


Consuming of The Mind

by The_Fangirling_Loser



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst, Bill you little shit, Chaos, Don't hate me for this, Fluff (In the beginning), Fluff and Angst, Get a tissue, Human Bill Cipher, I'm Sorry, M/M, Too cute fluffle times, kind of sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-21 16:26:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 40,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2474804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Fangirling_Loser/pseuds/The_Fangirling_Loser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since Bill had taken over his body, Dipper has had this strange feeling that he believes will change his life forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Longing for You

   Dipper sat on his creaky, old bed; twirling a pen in and out of his fingers. The journal filled with pages of miscellaneous, mystical, magical creatures sat opened on his lap. Page by page, he flipped through it, searching for a new, mysterious creature that he and his sister had not yet found an explanation for. "Gnome, Zombie, uuugh." He mumbled as he rolled his eyes and in annoyance while continuing to flip the page.

   He closed and tossed the journal to the foot of his bed, groaning as he flopped over to his side and drew his blanket over his head. "WADDLES!!!" Dipper heard the delighted cry of his twin sister.

   He pulled the covers down, just below his nose, to see Mabel holding out her fat pig that was, to no surprise of Dipper's, wearing a sweater, knit to his size, that almost perfectly matched Mabel's. She ran over to Dipper's bed and, with Waddles now in her lap, sat herself right next to the journal. "Why sucha long face?" She said in a pouty tone as she poked her brother's nose.

"Oooowww!" Dipper whined dramatically with his cracking, pubescent voice as he pulled his legs up to his chest and rubbed his nose with three fingers.

"Oh come on! Quit being such a big baby!" Mabel stuck her tongue out at him as she picked up the journal and began to flip through it.

   Dipper quickly sat up and attempted to snatch his journal back from her, but she was too quick for him. Knowing better than to try again, he just asked, "What're you looking for?"

"Unicorns!" Mabel almost shouted in a surprised tone, as if it were completely obvious to anyone and everyone.

"Again?" Dipper asked with a dull, unimpressed tone as he flopped back onto his bed.

   She stopped on a page with a confused and wondering look. Thinking that, for some reason, instead of himself, Mabel had found something, he asked her what it was. "I wonder what ever happened to Shmebulock...?" Mabel whispered.

"Oh come on, Mabel!" Dipper cried out with more annoyance laced in his voice once he noticed a crude drawing of a gnome vomiting rainbows off to the side of the page.

   He snatched the journal out of his twin's arms and began scribbling it out. "Why are you acting so grumpyyy?!" She whined, flopping into an awkward laying position on her stomach while she rapidly kicked her feet.

   Dipper knew why he'd been acting as more of an annoyance than usual, but it was nothing that he planned on sharing with his sister. Ever since Mabel's 'Sock Opera', he'd had an odd feeling. It began after Dipper had been returned to his body... after _Bill_ had possessed his body. Of course, the pain had already surged through his body from the harm Bill had done, but this was different. When Dipper thought of the floating, yellow triangle, he would begin to sweat, a sort of nervous state of mind would engulf his entire being, and his chest would feel like it was beginning to cave in.

   Had he been thinking normally, instead of focusing on Bill, Dipper wouldn't have subconsciously flipped to his page. Mabel sat up and glanced over her brother's shoulder. "Why are you staring at Bill?" She asked, her perkiness quickly fading as she thought of all of the chaos that stupid triangle had caused.

   Dipper snapped back to reality, noticed the page he was staring intently at, and slammed the journal shut, nervously defending himself, "I-I'm not!"

   Mabel looked slightly offended at the harsh tone her brother had taken to, but overall, she just seemed confused. Dipper wanted to apologize, but with being a young, pubescent teenager and feeling pressured, he just stumbled out of their room and up to the attic. He gripped the handrails tightly as he thumped up the stairs.Looking around the room, Dipper's line of sight stopped at the stained glass window that Bill had appeared through the last time he had 'visited'. He slowly approached it and sat himself gently on the cushions just beneath the intriguing window, flipping through the journal pages until he reached Bill's page.

   As he sat there, Dipper began thinking of all of the weird occurrences that had been going on in Gravity Falls ever since he had arrived. A feeling of hope began to burble up in his stomach and he quickly whipped his head upwards, looking at the stained glass, expecting his mind consuming triangle to be there waiting for him. But he wasn't. "It was stupid to think he'd actually be there anyways." Dipper put himself down, sliding off of the ledge and thudding to the floor. The only thought that passed through his brain was: _Will I ever see Bill again?_


	2. A Forest Trail

        Dipper sat gloomily, curled up into an upwards, fetus-like position on the far right side of their couch while Mabel sat right in front of the television, her eyes practically glued. It was Tuesday night, the day of the week that a new Ducktective aired. Usually, everyone in the shack was going nuts for the new episode of this show, but tonight, it seemed as if Mabel was the only normal one.  
  
        Dipper was...well, you know, Stan just seemed annoyed, Soos had become preoccupied by the entertaining sight of Waddles the pig playing with a string, and Wendy had practically been 'abducted' by stupid Robbie. I mean, it's not like she was kidnapped, but she doesn't  even like him anymore, so he probably found another mind control spell or a love potion or something. Surprisingly, with Bill on his mind, this didn't seem to phase Dipper in the slightest.  
  
        With the atmosphere being as awkward and depressing as it was, Stan stood up from the left side of the yellow couch and said, "I'm going to...uh...not do taxes now." He poorly excused himself.  
  
        Neither his great niece nor his great nephew seemed to either care or hear him. Stan shrugged and left. The twins sat in complete silence, save the noise of Ducktective and Mabel's occasional outburst of some sort. Dipper tilted his head down, now staring at his feet. Why couldn't he get the thought of Bill out of his mind? It was beginning to drive him crazy! That stupid mind demon forcefully took Dipper's body, he injured it pointlessly, he destroyed the best chance of finding out who the author is (or was), and so on.  _So why in God's name couldn't he just forget about him?!_  
  
        As this continued to upset and anger Dipper, he felt he'd concerned his sister enough for the day and excused himself. While grumbling remarks of annoyance, Dipper trudged down the hallway and out the front door. He decided that he needed time to cool down and try to forget about Bill. He took a deep breath and began on a dirt pathway that was just off to the right of the Mystery Shack. For the first five minutes of his little journey, Dipper had only continuously started at his feet as he dragged them along, occasionally kicking at a pebble or stone now and then. He began to look around, and he noticed that the forest was actually a pretty peaceful and soothing spot.  
  
        He slowed his pace, and as he came up to a fallen tree, he sat on its old, mossy bark. Opening up the side of his jacket, Dipper pulled out journal number three, that he always seemed to have with him, and flipped through the pages slowly, making sure to study each one closely. When he came to Bill's page once more, he was yet again face with a flood of emotions. "Okay,  _what is with me_?!" Dipper shouted, "Bill  _possessed me!_  He injured me and tried to hurt my family! All logical reasoning points to me hating him and wanting nothing more than revenge, but... I can't seem to shake this feeling." He began to calm down a bit, "But, it's almost as if I- NO! I don't! I  _can't_!" The shouting began again.  
  
        Dipper leapt to his feet and began stomping off, further into the woods. He began throwing back branches and pushing past bushes in frustration, despite the fact that a few sharp thorns scratched him along his arms and legs. Looking back down at Bill's page as he continued to walk, Dipper tried to reason with himself, no, he tried to  _convince_ himself that he had no other emotion towards Bill than anger. When that didn't seem to work, Dipper closed the journal and stuffed it back in his jacket.  
  
        As soon as he looked ahead of himself, he stopped dead in his tracks.  _Where had the trail gone?_  "What?! Where did it go? It's not like dirt roads can just  _disappear_  or anything! I'll just have to retrace my steps, that's all!" He tried to calm himself with no success.  
  
        Whilst Dipper stumbled about blinding, constantly turning in circles, he had failed to keep watch of where he placed his feet. As he was turned and walking backwards, Dipper tripped over an outward jutting tree root and began to fall back, letting out a crackling scream as his head hit the forest floor...hard. He shakily lifted his hand to the back of his head and felt a warm, sticky, thick liquid. His eyes began to close, and then they rolled into the back of his head. He lay there, waiting for no one...unconscious.


	3. The Lucid Dream

        Dipper groggily peeled open one eye at a time, rapidly blinking to adjust to the bright, white light. "I-I don't understand... Where am I?" He asked aloud to no one but himself as he began to pushing his body into a sitting position.  
  
        He looked around and saw nothing but white as far as the eye could see. The floors, the skies, everything...white. As he shakily and slowly stretched out his feet, bringing his torso up, off of the ground, he began turning around, hoping for some kind of clue to...something, anything. "What is this place? Am I dreaming?" Dipper asked himself aloud.  
  
        Faintly, in the distance, Dipper caught a small, familiar sound. Now rather confused, he began to slowly shuffle in the direction of the noise. It came again, this time more clearly, and more distinct. It was an oink. Dipper picked up the pace and a multi-colored shape began to form a few yards in front of him. "Waddles?" He stopped as the pink form of his sister's fat pig appeared sitting atop a rolling, desk chair.  
  
"Yes Dipper, it is I." Came a strange voice, seemingly from the pig, but without his mouth moving.  
  
"What do you- How are you- Why?" Dipper stammered, combing his brain for the right question.  
  
"If you could not create the inference yet, you are in a dream. I am only a figment of your imagination." The wise Waddles explained.  
  
"Yeah, I could have probably guessed that on my own... But, what happened? Why am I having this...weird dream?"  
  
"You seem to have fallen and taken quite a strong hit to the head, possibly a concussion. As for this strangely lucid dream, I know not why or how it is being created." Dream Waddles hopped off of the chair and began trotting off in an eastward direction, "Follow me, Dipper." He commanded.  
  
        With slight hesitation, Dipper followed his sister's pig. As he continued to follow Waddles, strange pieces of an assortment of things began popping into existence. A mailbox, a house, a car... from what he could see, it looked to Dipper as if the town of Gravity Falls was beginning to come together, piece by piece, before his very eyes. "I don't understand, Waddles...?"  
  
"Well, I do not understand the purpose or meaning of this dream, for I am only a piece of your mind, so my knowledge can only extend to the lengths of your brain. But I do know this. I am the one that is to help you return." The dream Waddles oinked.  
  
        Dipper and dream Waddles quickly paced through parts of town and began to go down a less populated, and more forested road. As they moved along, it became clear to Dipper that it was the road back to the Mystery Shack. They seemed to speed up all of a sudden, well, they seemed to travel faster without actually moving their legs at any more than a speed walk. The two came up to the Mystery Shack when Waddles walked to the left. "Wait, I'm home. Where are you going?" Dipper shouted after the pig.  
  
"Dipper, our destination is not your home. We need to return you to your body." Waddles turned to face Dipper and look him straight in the eyes, "This is your dream, and you are still unconscious back in the real world. I have been tasked to return you to your body. If you do not, this town will disappear from your mind and you will forever aimlessly wander the vast, white space of your inner state of mind."  
  
        With the realization of what the pig had said, Dipper immediately jogged up to Waddles side and continued on down the forest trail he had taken earlier that day. They twisted and turned down the dirt path and completely passed through the tree branches and bushes that Dipper had previously, but this time without moving them, almost like a ghost moving through walls. The two of them approached Dipper's splayed body and Waddles turned back to look at him. "I do believe you can find your way from here without me." Waddles then disappeared and left Dipper to return to his body alone.  
  
        Dipper did plan to return to his body, but first he examined it. "Stupid." He muttered to himself as he saw the simple tree root that had caused this.  
  
"I can't believe I'm unconscious because I was too stupid to see that root." He placed the palm of his hand in the center of his forehead.  
  
        Dipper winced as he looked at his head. Laying next to it was a rock with a splat of blood on it, which he could only assume was what caused him to fall into this dream. The small pool of blood laying next to him certainly didn't look appealing and he knew that as soon as he returned to his body, he was in for a world of pain. "Well, here goes nothing!" Dipper sighed as he sunk back into his own skin once more.


	4. Revived by a Stranger...

        Dipper came to gasping for air. He tried and tried, but his lungs didn't seem to be working. Acknowledging this, he attempted to cry for help, which in turn, only came out as a small, pitiful wheezing noise of some sort. He laid there, on the cold forest floor, awaiting death. With shaky, uneven breaths, Dipper closed his eyes and waited in pain for what he knew would be his fate in a matter of minutes.  
  
        Just when he felt all hope was lost, he felt someone's lips forced upon his, breathing oxygen back into his lungs and vigorously thrusting their hands down on his chest. Dipper's mysterious savior continued this routine for about two minutes until Dipper turned his body to the side and let out heavy coughs in which were laced with spots of blood. He fluttered open his eyes only to see some stranger that looked about his age...but not.  
  
        This stranger had on a suit, which was really weird especially in the forest, his hair was a shade of blonde that seemed unrealistic, almost golden, and the weirdest thing, he had an eye patch...with this yellow triangle on it. Dipper shot this stranger a confused look and began to try to form a question, but before he could utter it, the strange boy shouted: "How's it been, Dipper?!"  
  
"Wh-What?" Dipper wheezed with a tone of slight surprise.  
  
        Dipper thought, no he knew, he had never seen this boy before. He knew for a fact that if he had ever met anyone this strange looking he would remember it with utmost certainty. "I don't think I've ever seen you before..." He put into words.  
  
        The boy looked taken aback, almost hurt, even. He then stood up, straightened out his suit, and pulled out a cane in which he leaned over on. "Why Pine Tree, I'm surprised!" The boy chuckled, "I know you're not really the smartest kid, but honestly? Maybe that rock really did a number on that head of yours." As he mentioned his head, the boy gestured to it and Dipper began to feel a bit of a burning sensation creep through his head.  
  
        Dipper grabbed at the back of his head, trying to find the spot that had been injured. He tried to feel around for it, but it seemed like it wasn't there anymore. "Oh, that. Yeah I fixed that up, and the blood too." The strange boy motioned to where the blood used to be.  
  
        Dipper looked to his side in amazement, the blood was completely gone, not even a spot was left. "How did you do that?!" He shouted.  
  
"Well, it's really quite easy. But it's more of a talent, really. Not everyone could do it." He sat back down, this time directly in front of Dipper.  
  
        Dipper looked deep into the boy's one eye, then continued to study the rest of him. "I can't seem to place it, but I feel like I know you from somewhere..." He mumbled.  
  
"Oh! That's because you do!" The boy clapped excitedly, almost as if this was a game and Dipper was coming so close to solving the puzzle.  
  
        All of a sudden, the realization struck him. How could he not have seen it sooner! He felt stupid, but just in case he was wrong, he should just accuse this boy. "B-Bill?" Dipper gasped.  
  
"Hey! You got it!" This...human Bill began to float while spinning his cane around and around in circles with joy.  
  
        Dipper began to stand up and back away slowly, trying not to attract the monster's attention. Bill stared into Dipper's eyes and rapidly flew over to him. "Did you miss me?" He asked, sliding one finger from Dipper's ear, all the way down to his chin, bringing chills to the young Pines boy.


	5. Beginning of The End

"Wha- No!" Dipper cried out in a nervous, cracking voice.  
  
        Bill dropped his hand down and laid it on top of his cane, backing up about two feet. "Sure, Pine Tree." He chuckled, "It's not like I could see you constantly staring at that little page of me or anything." Bill smirked, removing the journal from Dipper's jacket and flipping to his own page.  
  
"Hey!" Dipper shouted out, trying to reach for the journal, but only grasping at open air.  
  
"Now now, don't snatch things from people while they're reading it. It's rude." Bill slightly laughed as he scolded the boy.  
  
        Dipper folded his arms across his chest and let out an annoyed puff of breath. As Bill studied his page closely, most likely trying to find what Dipper had found most intriguing, he noticed the way the sun so perfectly caressed Bill's golden locks, making it seem to shimmer and dance in the small breeze.  _No!_  Stop it! He shook his head and hardened his gaze, drawing together his eyebrows and staring at his feet in a pout. Without Dipper's knowledge, Bill looked up ever so slightly from the journal to sneak a vain glance at the boy he so loved to tease.  
  
        He then tossed the book back at the feet of the Pines boy and shrugged, pretending not to care. "That doesn't really seem to capture my good side, you know." Bill sighed.  
  
        Dipper kneeled down and grabbed his journal, brushing the dirt off of the cover and sticking it back where it belonged in his jacket. "You know, it really doesn't seem like you even  _have_  a good side." He mumbled.  
  
        Bill's eyebrows raised in interest as he looked Dipper up and down, "I'm appalled, Pine Tree. You don't think I can be good?" He asked, flashing an innocent and child-like face, then it was quickly replaced by an evil looking smirk and a scoff, "It's either that...or you just like  _bad boys_."  
  
" _What?!_  No. Stop it!" Dipper tried to defend in frustration.  
  
        Bill chuckled lightly and said, "Well whatever your reasoning is, I sure hope it's worth it." He flashed Dipper a smile that seemed all too perfect and tipped his hat in his direction, " _Arrivederci_! I'll always be watching!" Bill cheerily shouted as he disappeared.  
  
        Dipper stood there, confused, but deep in the back of his head, he knew. He knew that he had feelings, and he knew that Bill knew. With a new felt urgency, he turned around and began his trek back to the Mystery Shack to face his sister and grunkle once more, but this time, with new worries and distractions.  
  
        He pushed through the front door and walked a few steps down the hall, turning his head to see his twin still in the living room, still watching their show as if almost no time had passed whatsoever. She giggled as she heard yet another duck pun, her eyes filled with the optimistic glee of childhood. Dipper smiled at this sight. He knew that his sister had been through a great deal of sorrows, but he was always amazed at the fact the Mabel had always been capable of pushing past them and looking for the brighter side of life. It was something that he just couldn't find the willpower to completely achieve.  
  
        His smile faded and Dipper continued to walk on, down the hall, up the stairs, and into their room. He flopped onto his bed and fell deep into thought. It seemed as if he had brought back one of the biggest enemies of the Pines' family, and all because he had different feelings for him. If he was able to return just by sensing this minuscule factor, who knows what else Bill was capable of! For better or for worse, things were about to drastically change. It was the beginning of the end...and it was all Dipper's fault.


	6. Blanket Burrito Awakens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, why did I say blanket burrito? For some reason it's now the funniest thing I can think of and I am laughing more than I should be...

        Dipper groaned and resisted as he felt the pushes and shoves of his sister. "Wake  _uuuuupp_ , sleepyhead!" Mabel groaned as she shook the blanket covered, warm, burrito-looking brother of hers.  
  
"No." He grumbled, barely audible, in return.  
  
        Mabel drew back her hands and folded her arms across her chest. She began to pout and then made a sighing noise, which sounded more like a growl than anything. She began to pace around their room, only beginning her lecture with her twin brother. "Come on, man! It's 1 pm and we should like... _just go do something_! You've been such a buzz kill lately and you won't even tell me why!" Mabel began to rant.  
  
        Dipper rolled over onto his back and removed his blankets from over his head in order to look at his sister. She really looked upset this time, and she really didn't deserve this. He sat up and looked at her, now with her finally realizing he wasn't still curled up in his little blanket burrito. "Hey! At least you can still sit up though!" She said with less anger in her voice.  
  
        Mabel, more cheerily, hopped over to Dipper's bed and sat at the foot of his soft, blue, cotton sheets. "What's up with you lately?" She asked with all sincerity.  
  
        Dipper contemplated on telling Mabel all about his ordeal. He thought of telling her about his mixed feelings towards the creature that had possessed him and wrecked Mabel's show, about his accident in the forest just yesterday afternoon, and about how he had brought back Bill...and that he had all of a sudden seemed to take more of an interest in him. But he couldn't. He couldn't force Mabel to hold the weight of his burden on her shoulders, not something like this. So, Dipper shrugged and looked downwards, "I dunno, I guess I'm just feeling down...or something."  
  
        A smile spread over Mabel's face and she giggled, "Yeah, or you could be going through some guy PMS or something."  
  
"What?! No, stop it!" He laughed back at her, punching her lightly on the shoulder.  
  
"See! You're not such a grumpy bug any more. Now let's go do something!" She shouted, joyfully jumping off of the bed and running for the door, "You coming?" A smile still on her face as she reached for the doorknob.  
  
"Yeah, okay." Dipper grinned back at her, throwing off his blankets and walking across the room to accompany his sister.  
  
        They both almost flew down the upstairs hallway and down the stairs, turning to the left, and racing into the kitchen. Mabel dashed over to the refrigerator and began raiding it. She pulled out some milk and oranges and placed them on the table. Next, she stepped over to the cupboards and reached for the cereal, just barely able to snatch it from the height Stan placed it in. "Hey! Guess what I made?!" She laughed as she pulled out some 'Mabel Juice' from the fridge.  
  
"No!" Dipper almost shouted, but with a smile still plastered on his face.  
  
"Come oooonnnn, you never ever tried it the first time!" She whined, continuing to draw out two glasses from the cupboard to the left of the refrigerator.  
  
"Yeah, that's because only God knows what kind of chemicals you must have put in that!"  
  
        Mabel giggled and said, "Yep, just me and God."  
  
        Dipper didn't take her giggle as a good sign and stuck with his first decision: to not test his luck with the mysterious, rubber-dinosaur-infested drink. Before making her way back to the table, Mabel put one glass back and pulled out two bowls and spoons for their cereal. She set each object down (rather gently for Mabel, might I add) in from of her and Dipper's placement. Dipper poured milk and cereal into his bowl and began to chew...rather confused as he took notice of what his sister had decided to add to hers.  
  
        Mabel poured the cereal into her bowl...as well as some 'Mabel Juice' and began rapidly shoveling spoonfuls into her mouth. Dipper shook it off, as it wasn't really a big concern, and just decided to enjoy his breakfast...or lunch...it was brunch...maybe.  
  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   
  
They soon finished their meal and cleaned up after themselves. Taking into mind how delicate her brother seemed these last few days, she asked him, "So do you want to go do something, or just chill at home?" She cautiously worded as not to send him back up to his room to rot away for the rest of the summer.  
  
"Could we just stay at the Mystery Shack and do something?"  
  
"Yeah!" Mabel rather excitedly exclaimed, happy that her brother was willing to do anything other than be a blanket burrito.


	7. Mesmerizing Stares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: REALLY CUTE MAKES YOU WANNA SQUEE FLUFFLE (If you're into that sorta stuff...psh, whatever...) BUT SERIOUSLY, I ALMOST DIED WRITING IT!!!

        It had been exactly three days and four hours since Dipper had last seen Bill, and he was beginning to become rather anxious. What if Bill had begun to plan something really evil? What if he's wreaking havoc in the town this instant? What if...what if Bill had forgotten about Dipper? "Stop it brain!" Dipper thought aloud.  
  
"What?" His sister turned to him, tilting her head to the side a bit.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud." Dipper defended himself.  
  
        Mabel gave a short, small smile and turned back to her pig. A nervous feeling washed over Dipper that Mabel had been starting to catch on to what he had been so concerned about lately. He had felt so paranoid in fact, that the absolutely ridiculous idea that some guy had come up with that twins could telepathically communicate or something started to feel real to him. Dipper thought that maybe he had been accidentally sending Mabel his thoughts and that she just didn't want to tell him that he knew yet... Geez, he needed to stop it with these crazy schemes.  
  
        Dipper stood up from the yellow couch in their living room and, since he hadn't seen or heard anything of Bill lately, decided to go back out to the forest trail where he had met once more with the mind demon once more. He pushed open the front door and hopped off of the front porch, almost jogging down to the trail. A feeling of hope and wonder began to fill Dipper's chest as the thought of being reunited with Bill slithered around in his mind.  
  
        Dipper came up to the end of the path he had taken, the place where he had veered off course and gone into the forest without a trail. Figuring that Bill might not want to meet at the same place again, Dipper took the turn on the dirt path and continued down. He had never actually been down this trail before the accident. And he most certainly hadn't finished it and walked all the way to the end...or wherever it might circle back. Soon, Dipper came up to a beautiful sight.  
  
        The grass was sweet smelling and knee high, the tree branches of a few swaying willows parted ever so slightly to reveal a shimmering, crystal blue lake that rippled mesmerizingly in the breeze. And just beyond that lake lay a magnificent waterfall that splashed onto the surface of the lake just enough to send a mist sprinkling back, causing the sunlight to hit it just right, which made bright, rainbow colors practically surround the whole thing. "Woah..." Dipper breathed, slowly approaching the part in the willow trees.  
  
        He sat just at the edge of the water, gazing in awe at the most stunning thing that Gravity Falls had offered him yet. Dipper slipped off his black shoes, and warm, cotton socks, placing the just to the left of him. he stretched out a single leg and dipped the tip of his foot in, testing the temperature. Even the water was perfect! He scooted a few inches closer to the edge, sinking both legs mid-calf in the cool, soothing liquids. "It's breath taking, isn't it." Dipper heard a voice just behind him.  
  
"Yeah." He answered, too amazed by the beauty to bother to look back and see who it was.  
  
        As soon as he heard the person walk closer to him, and then felt his whole left side press against Dipper's right as he sat next to him did he look up to find none other than Bill. Normally, Dipper would first be taken aback by the sighting of such a creature, then he would just make awkward conversation, trying to find the right time to leave. This time, he didn't. This time, he just let this human Bill sit next to him, slipping his feet into the lake right next to him.  
  
"I haven't seen you in a few days..." Dipper began, looking away slightly.  
  
"Do I detect a bit of abandonment issues?" Bill teased, lightly hitting his foot against Dipper's underneath the blue surface of the water.  
  
"No, I just- I kind of...well, I expected you to come back sooner." His voice getting softer, and quieter as he talked on.  
  
        Bill smiled, placing an arm around Dipper's shoulder. Dipper looked up into Bill's brightly colored, yellow eyes, just barely able to see a small, twinkling spark of mischief and playfulness. "Well you know, Pine Tree, I might not have been here, but I did say I'd always be watching...didn't I?"  
  
        Dipper reached his left hand up to his shoulder, intertwining his fingers with Bill's. Their eyes were locked, their stare unbreakable. They began to lean closer in, then, Dipper came to his senses and slightly gasped, shaking his head and pulling back. They remained next to each other, but Bill's arm had been removed from his shoulder and they were now only staring off at the waterfall and the darkening sky. Now Dipper was no longer confused about his feelings. He knew exactly what he felt, but could he confront it?


	8. Those Golden Eyes

Dipper had forced himself to look forwards instead of at him. Despite the fact that he could feel the burning sensation of Bill's eyes examining every detail of himself, he kept his gaze steady, refusing to look back into those almost glowing, enticing eyes of his and creating more...tension.

. . . . . . . . 

For the first time ever, Bill was at a loss of words. Every time anyone had ever spoken or done anything to him, he always had a quick remark. But not this time. He combed his mind for the right words, but everything was a complete and utter blank. How could a silly, little human have such an effect like this on him? I mean, come on, he was a mind demon! He controlled other beings' minds, they didn't control his!

Bill cleared his throat rather loudly, finally attracting the attention of the chocolaty brown haired boy. "I-uh... Maybe we could- Aw, forget it!" Bill became frustrated with himself and stood to his feet.

He began to stomp off, flustered and irritated with himself and how he couldn't think straight. He could hear behind him the sound of Dipper rising to his feet as well. "W-Wait, Bill." Bill heard him call out.

Happy that Dipper hadn't quite wanted him to leave, but also with butterflies fluttering around in his human stomach, Bill turned to face him. "What."

Dipper tried to stifle a laugh rather poorly as he saw the look on Bill's face. His feelings slightly damaged by this, Bill scoffed and asked, "What's so funny?! You didn't think someone like me could have any emotions, did you?"

"I didn't think creatures such as yourself ever got what looks like butterflies in your stomach." Dipper softly chuckled.

"I-I don't. I digest them." Bill added, lifting his chin with an attempt to look prideful and brush off the comment Dipper had made, "But...I can't." His shoulders slumped slightly and his head fell down to face the ground.

Dipper smiled, "So then...why are you leaving?"

Bill quickly pulled a breath in. He didn't quite have an answer, at least, not one he'd want to share with Dipper. He began to teeter from his toes to the heels of his feet. "I just- I don't have to answer to you!" With a flustered shout of embarrassment, Bill quickly fled the scene.

. . . . . . . . 

Dipper was altogether confused. Bill, nervous? He couldn't stop laughing at it though. He took one last glance at the lake that would forever be burned into his memory because of this moment shared, and with that, set back out on his journey home. The sun had begun to set, releasing brilliant shades of red, orange, purple, yellow, and blue. Glancing up at the sky, Dipper really wished the moment had lasted longer in order to be able to share this wondrous scene of beauty by the lake with Bill. Alas, Dipper had upset him and he had left.

Even though there was an abrupt, and rather irritating, end to his evening, Dipper couldn't help but smile. He emerged from the last bit of forested territory and entered the clearing that began the Mystery Shack property. He stepped through the doorway and looked into the living room once again after his 'outing with Bill', expecting to see Mabel again, but saw only his unsightly grunkle flipping pages of the newest edition of 'Gold Chains for Old Men'.

Dipper hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and quickly came upon his and his sister's bedroom door. He quietly opened the door, as not to disturb his twin, and stepped inside. The lights were out, Dipper could see the shape of his sister underneath the covers with Waddles, and could hear her gentle breathing that he could only assume meant that she was asleep for the night.

He climbed into his bed, not even bothering to change into his pajamas, and laid there, smiling at the ceiling and thinking of the lake. It was not two minutes later he began to hear a rustling and tapping sound. Dipper was about to get up to investigate when he had the living bejesus scared out of him. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING?!?!" Came the excited screech of his sister.

Dipper screamed equally as loud and was returned with a childish laugh from Mabel. "God, Mabel! You could've just asked when I walked in the room!"

"Yeah, but you looked so happy!" She smiled, "So anyways, what happened?!"

He smiled and only told her of what he had found on the trail, promising he'd show her in the morning. But nothing more of the event was spoken of, for fear of spoiling his wonderful memory. The siblings then returned to their sleeping stances and slowly drifted off. Mabel's dream was most likely filled with nothing less than neon colors and cartoon boys from horrid 80's movies, while Dipper's was entirely of the only thing he couldn't forget: Those gleaming, dreamy golden eyes.


	9. The Path Less Traveled By

"Woah!" Mabel breathed as she laid eyes on the lake Dipper had told her about late last night.  
  
        Dipper smiled weakly as his eyes settled on the edge of the water just between the willow trees. He could still feel Bill's strong, comforting arm laying across his shoulders, hinting at something more than just an awkward friendship. Despite the moment they shared, the possibility that something would happen between Dipper and that abstruse triangle seemed minuscule.  
  
        Dipper looked over at his sister to find that apparently, she didn't share the same perspective he had. Mabel was off to the side, picking out flowers and weaving their stems together to create...something. He sighed and walked up to her, deciding not to bore her with the little details that he had noticed the first time he was here that made this spot more magical. It was at moments like this Dipper wished he could just walk off and discover one of the places that Bill would sporadically appear in.  
  
        Dipper sat down, crossing his legs, right next to Mabel. Examining that appearance of the flowers his sister was weaving, a look of confusion clouded his face. He knew he had never before seen these flowers in person, yet they look oh so familiar to him. The garish colors were unmistakable. Each rose-shaped petal with its striking purple base color, speckled with both hot pink and electric blue polka-dotted shapes. "Mabel, I-I really don't think you should be doing that." He leaned over and whispered in Mabel's ear once he had recalled where he had previously seen the speckled flora.  
  
"Psh, why not?" She looked over at him skeptically.  
  
        To convince his sister of his point, he pulled out the journal, flipped to a page somewhere in the middle, and quickly flashed it to her. Mabel's previously smile filled face faded rapidly to a ghostly white as she examined the creature on the page. She slowly turned her sight back to the patch of flowers as she felt a cool, rope-like substance begin to wrap around her foot.  
  
        An ineffable expression of horror cluttered her face as the green, leafy vine began to creep up her leg, it's thorns brushing against her just hard enough to draw specks of blood. Stealthily, Dipper reached over and gently attempted to push the vine down Mabel's leg. It slowly began to regress, but being able to handle only small amounts of pain, as the vine was just at the end of her foot, Mabel viciously shoved the last of it off, letting out a strident scream that filled the ears of every living thing nearby.  
  
        Both Mabel and Dipper jumped to their feet and began to back away, but it was too late. The creature had been awoken. In addition to the vine that had been easily persuaded down from Mabel's leg, three more burst out of the forested floor, sending out a spray of dirt and stones. They stretched four feet in the air at least, one by one falling to the ground with a thud. It seemed like all was strangely over until the thick vines began to show signs of struggle...almost like they were pulling something.  
  
        The ground between the vines began to crack and rise, falling to the side, leaving a large opening that revealed none other than the creature the journal had foretold of. The plant people. The creature made of bark and covered in moss emerged from its slumber, releasing a monstrous roar that shook the ground. The creature stood, hunched over, at about nine feet tall. With its single, entirely black eye, the plant person stared directly at Mabel, the one that had awoken him. "Run!" Dipper shouted as he turned and ran in the opposite direction of the Mystery Shack.  
  
        The twins sprinted across the clearing and turned to the left, continuing to flee down the remainder of the trail. The plant person strained and groaned as it pulled itself up and out of the dirt, stomping after his new targets. Dipper and Mabel heaved oxygen in and out of their lungs as they stumbled blindly forward, pushing back branches and leaping over stray tree roots. The monster was rapidly approaching at a frightening speed, sending ripples like miniature earthquakes through the ground with his over sized vine feet.  
  
        Dipper took hold of Mabel's hand and pulled her violently to the right, off of the path and into a blackberry bush. "Hey!-" Mabel was silenced as Dipper placed his hand tightly over her mouth.  
  
        The furious beast thumped by, letting out the last roar the twins would ever hear escape from the monster's mouth. Dipper let his cupped hand fall to his side as his chest dramatically heaved up and down. "D-Do you think he's gone?" Mabel asked, parting the leaves of the bush just slightly enough to be able to catch a glimpse on the other side.  
  
        Her brother nodded, emerging from the shrubbery, brushing stray leaves from his shoulder, and repeatedly checking his left and right down the path for any sign of movement. Mabel, hesitantly at first, followed after her brother. Without speaking another word, they began to walk home. They were about two and a half minutes away from entering the clearing to the Mystery Shack when Dipper heard a soft "Psst!"  
  
        Stopping in the middle of the trail, he told Mabel to go on without him; that he would catch up later and help her bandage her leg. Dipper then cautiously walked in the direction that he had thought he had heard a noise from. After searching for about two minutes, he decided that it was only his mind playing tricks on him and figured he should head back to the shack. Right as he turned and had just placed a foot forwards, he heard it again! " _Psssst!_ " This time, more urgent.  
  
"Okay, who is that?!" Dipper asked, almost in a yell, for he was far too tired and too confused to care.  
  
"Geez, Pine Tree, way to be all secretive," Bill scoffed as he emerged from a nearby bush, "I mean, that is what you're trying to do, right? Keep this little...thing from your family?"  
  
        Feeling relieved it was Bill, on impulse, and most definitely without thinking, Dipper sprinted the small distance between them and wrapped the human formed demon in a tight, suffocating hug. Bill let out a sharp puff of air as he was taken aback by the surprising strength the young Pines boy seemed to have, lifting a single arm up, thinking about clasping his around Dipper in return, but let it fall back to his side when he decided it was better to just leave it alone.  
  
        Dipper came to the realization that what he had between him and Bill was rather awkward and undetermined still, and let go. "Uhh...sorry about that," Dipper stood back and rubbed the back of his head, fluffing up his hair that had now become rather messy from his 'outing' with his sister.  
  
"No, it's not that, oh never mind." Bill stuttered.  
  
        Dipper gasped, ceasing to fluff his hair as he reached to the top of his head, noticing a very crucial piece was missing. "M-My hat-!" He began, but a smile was brought to his face when he looked Bill in the eye.  
  
"Here...that's...I guess that's why I came." Bill mumbled as he took out Dipper's hat from behind his back.  
  
        With the delight of having his beloved blue and white baseball cap returned to his possession, Dipper snatched it from Bill's hands, returning it to its rightful place: his head. Bill opened his mouth and took in a breath of air, almost as if he were planning on saying something, then stopped. "Well, g'night, Pine Tree!" He abruptly ended as he disappeared from existence once more.  
  
        With a smile still plastered on his face, Dipper cheerily walked back to the Mystery Shack. "Hey sis!" He called out once he entered the living room of the house to find her just taking out the bandages.  
  
        Mabel gave him a slightly confused smile in return, "What got you so happy all of a sudden?" She asked with a hint of a scoff.  
  
        Dipper pointed to his head, to his returned hat. "You found it!" Mabel gasped, clapping shortly in joy for her brother.  
  
"Yeah." Dipper sighed happily, removing the back of the band-aid, then placing it on one of Mabel's cuts.


	10. Speed Dial

        A big, long bus filled to the brim with an assortment of tourists came hissing and screeching to a stop, directly in front of the entrance to the Mystery Shack. People of all different colors and cultures came pouring through the bus doors like a tidal wave, 'ooh'ing and 'ah'ing with multiple flashes of their cameras to add emphasis to their noises. Eventually, they found their way inside the gift shop. Stan stood tall in front of the maroon curtain, just to the right of the vending machine, that marked the beginning of his bombastic, spurious tour meant for only the most gullible of people.  
  
"Come one! Come all! Witness the horrifying creatures just beyond this curtain!" Stan audaciously shouted.  
  
        For some reason, all of this yelling seemed to attract and interest all of the tourists, causing men, women, ad even children to flock towards Dipper's specious great uncle. Once Stan had gathered enough people to his liking, he continued explaining how amazing his tour would be, then convinced each and every one of them to pay the overpriced fee of admission. Not long after, the group disappeared into the darker room filled with lies and exaggeration. "I still don't understand how he gets people to give up their money for that stuff." Dipper scoffed with folded arms, glancing over at Wendy.  
  
"I dunno, man. People are pretty stupid." She replied, her feet relaxed on top of the check-out counter with her nose in a magazine.  
  
        Dipper gave a slight smile in her direction. Normally, he would have been swooning and looking for any moment to become her pet, but ever since Bill had come along, things had...changed. Dipper still thought of Wendy in somewhat of the same way, just not as extreme. But Bill, that was where the real chase began. Apparently, Dipper had gone a bit too deep into thought about his new, favorite triangle, and it had begun to show in his face. "Dude, are you okay?" Wendy asked, waving a hand in front of his face.  
  
"What?!"Dipper snapped back to reality, "Yeah, sure, sorry." He spluttered, quickly grabbing the broom on the wall to the left of him and begun to sweep.  
  
        Wendy gave him a skeptical look, eyeing him up and down. "Dude, you're acting funny. What's up?" She accused.  
  
        Nervousness began to spill over the brim and Dipper began to sweat...everywhere. He tried to act as normal as possible but just ended up giving Wendy a really creepy looking smile and a shrug. "Nothing."  
  
        She scoffed at his poor excuse and shook her head. "Whatever, Dipper. It's your business." Wendy held up her hands as if to say 'no offense' and continued to read whatever gossip she found so intriguing in her magazine.  
  
        As soon as Dipper thought he was in the clear, regarding to being accused of 'something being up', Mabel ran up to him faster than a bullet train, grabbing his arm and yanking him away in the process. She pulled him out the door and to the side of the Mystery Shack, panting as she stood out of breath, yet still full of excitement. "You...Wendy...make...a move?" She breathed between heaves.  
  
"What? Gosh, no Mabel. Just because I was talking to Wendy doesn't mean that I want to 'make a move' on her." He scolded, adding air quotes when needed.  
  
        Mabel groaned and pushed past him, heading back to the Mystery Shack gift shop. Dipper stood there, his arms no crossed and he was left slightly upset. To tell the truth, he was tired of people assuming he was head-over-heels in love with Wendy. Sure, he used to really like her, but lately, he had given his heart to another.  
  
        A smaller bus than the first pulled up with a lot of squeaking and thunking noises; with that smaller bus came a smaller group of tourists that loitered outside, snapping photographs and chattering about God knows what. Dipper began to walk through the crowd that, although was smaller than the previous was still rather large, blocked the entrance and as his hand was inches away from the doorknob, he felt someone grab hold of his arm and begin to pull him off once more. "Come  _on_  Mabel!" He groaned.  
  
"Kid, I'm not Mabel." The all too familiar voice filled Dippers ears like sweet honey.  
  
        He turned around to find none other than Bill. Now knowing who his 'attacker' was, Dipper let himself be pulled through the muck of tourists and off to the side of the shack once more. "What?" Bill asked.  
  
With a rather confused look, Dipper stammered, "I-I don't know what you mean. You were the one to come here."  
  
        With rolled eyes, Bill tried to explain, "You, like... _needed me_  or something?"  
  
"Hmm?" Still confused, Dipper shook his head, then he recalled just a minute ago when he had gone deep into thought about Bill, thinking of his every detail and how he wished he was here, "Wait, I was...thinking of you, if that's what you mean."  
  
Bill scoffed, remembering Dipper was only human, "Here let me explain: If there seems to be an urgent need for me around, your brain kind of sets of this...beacon or something that tells me I should probably figure out what you're doing. There, that is the easiest possible way I could explain that."  
  
Dipper began to laugh a bit, "So what you're saying is you basically have me on speed dial?"  
  
Bill crossed his arms, "So you're pretty much saying that you called me over for nothing then?"  
  
"I didn't  _call_  you. I only  _thought_  of you." He grinned from ear to ear, pleased to hear that Bill was worried, or just interested, enough to come to Dipper's aid whenever he thought of Bill.

       Bill shrugged, "I'm a mind demon! You think, I come." He stated half-halfheartedly.

       Smiling, Dipper said, "Yeah, same thing." and then walked back to his shift in the gift shop. As Dipper disappeared around the corner, Bill let a slight grin appear on his newer, human face. This kid was...cute. He'd admit at least that.


	11. Hand-Me-Downs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, I need to be stopped...

        Morning arrived a little too quickly for the tastes of Dipper. The warm, glowing rays of sunshine poured through the Bill-shaped window, slowly slithering along the edge of his bed and blanketing the single foot that had been left outside of the covers. Dipper groaned as he came to the realization that he was beginning to wake up and pulled his covers well over his head, mumbling unknown words into his pillow.  
  
        Though her brother may have been grumpy in the morning, as soon as Mabel woke, she stretched, yawned, and greeted the day with a bright, brace-filled smile. Throwing off the covers that lay atop her body, Mabel leapt out of bed, causing a loud thumping noise and the floor to slightly quiver beneath her unpredicted jump. She then dashed out of the room and left her groaning brother in peace and quiet. Dipper remained still, hands tightly gripping the edges of his blanket over his head, legs splayed, and eyes shut in a failed attempt to remain asleep. Just as he thought he had begun to slightly drift off, he felt a sharp jab of a finger in his side. " _Maaaabellll, stooooopppp_!" He groaned, shifting his position only slightly.  
  
        There was a dead silence in the room and the poking had stopped. And when he thought his sister had finally left, Dipper felt a sharper jab in the same location the previous one had landed. "Okay,  _stop_!" Dipper growled, throwing his blanket off of his bed as he sat up with a glare prepared for his pesky twin.  
  
        As soon as his eyes landed on his attacker, a guilty, nervous feeling immediately swept over the entirety of Dipper's being. "Why do you assume lately that I'm a glittery, teenage girl?"  
  
"B-Bill...what're....what're you doing here?" Dipper stammered, pulling his blanket back up, over his body.  
  
"I'm bored." He shrugged, folding his legs into a sitting position...but mid-air, "There doesn't seem to be any mass hysteria or chaos going on in the vicinity, so I figured you'd know what to do."  
  
"I-uh...I just woke up." Dipper grinned sheepishly.  
  
        Bill, remaining in his sitting position, hovered down to the foot of Dipper's bed, sighing with boredom as he landed. "What do you two do for fun, anyways?" He asked, inching closer to Dipper.  
  
        Dipper began to scoot to the very top of his bed, feeling rather flustered that Bill was very close to him...and in his bed. He racked his brain, trying to think of a suggestion that might get Bill to leave, but his mind seemed to be filled with nothing but the thought of the very being in front of him. "Uhm...well, you could-" He began.  
  
" _We_." Bill corrected with a devilishly handsome smile, "It's no fun wandering around by myself."  
  
        Dipper gave a slight smile and soft chuckle of embarrassment. "I haven't even gotten out of bed yet, Bill..."  
  
"Then get out of bed!" He commanded, rolling over and falling off of the bed in the process, causing a rather loud thumping noise.  
  
        Dipper lunged forward, hanging over the edge of the bed to see if the mind demon had been hurt. The only thing he saw was Bill laying on his back and laughing up at him, "Haha, made you worry!"  
  
       While rolling his eyes in the general direction of Bill, Dipper gently lowered himself to the floor and shuffled over to the dresser. He took out his everyday outfit: His faded, red t-shirt, the navy blue vest, and a pair of cargo shorts. Dipper turned back around to face Bill and cleared his throat while nodding towards the door, hinting that he should leave. Bill only started blankly back at him. "Do you mind?" Dipper scoffed.  
  
"Not at all!" Bill smiled back.  
  
        Instead of trying to argue with him, Dipper decided it would be easier if he just went to the bathroom to change. He turned the doorknob, flung open the door, and stomped down the hall to the bathroom that he and his sister shared. Yawning as he stripped, he began to wonder why Bill came to him in the first place.   
  
        After spending only about a minute changing, Dipper slipped on his shirt and opened the bathroom door to find Bill standing directly in front of him. Dipper let out a squeak and jumped only an inch off of the ground, "Bill! What the hell are you doing!" He loudly whispered, looking around to make sure none of the other residence of the Mystery Shack were in close proximity.  
  
"I told you,  _I'm boooooreddd_!" Bill moaned, becoming more of an annoyance.  
  
        Dipper grumbled something under his breath and began to attempt to push Bill back to his bedroom. With all of the effort he put into it, Dipper was only able to shove him maybe five inches in the direction he had hoped. "You could at least  _try_  to move with me, you know?" He puffed.  
  
        Bill looked down at him. Dipper looked really cute when he got all flustered and angry. "So...you wanna take our business back to the bedroom?" He repeatedly raised his eyebrows and shot Dipper a suggestive smile.  
  
"What? No!" Dipper stopped pushing him and shoved his hands into his pockets, "I just don't want Mabel or Stan or anyone to see you...that's it."  
  
        Bill shook his head and smiled, "Why not? They don't know I'm...me." He gestured to his newer, human body, "The last time either one of them saw me, I was a  _triangle_!"  
  
        Dipper began to consider Bill's offer. Sure, he was disguised rather well, but what if they recognized him? I mean, people these days don't exactly wear a golden suit, a top hat, an eye patch, and carry around a cane. "Okay, Bill, but you need to change."  
  
        Dipper began to speed-walk back to his room, grabbing hold of Bill's hand to make sure he followed at the same pace. He began to root through his dresser in search of some outfit that he didn't wear on a regular basis and wouldn't obviously be one his uncle and sister would recognize. He was reaching for a blue shirt at the bottom of the drawer when Bill's hand crossed his path and grabbed a shirt off to the left. "This one." Was all he said in regards to a yellow shirt that he was now clasping to his chest.  
  
        Dipper looked skeptically at the shirt that Bill now seemed so attached to. He hadn't worn that shirt since he was in the fourth grade and he doubted it would properly fit himself, let alone Bill. "Alright, but I don't think it'll-" He began, but Bill was already removing his shirt and wriggling into the yellow t-shirt.  
  
        By the time Bill had pushed, pulled, and done everything possible to get this shirt on his torso, it looked like a sad crop top. He frowned after deciding to take it off, figuring that this shirt would look even stranger than his suit. Dipper threw Bill the larger blue shirt that he had planned to give him in the first place, in return, catching the yellow one Bill threw back at him. Even though this shirt fit Bill much better than the last, he was still taller than Dipper, thus causing a section of his stomach to show. "Come on, why can't I just wear my suit?!" He complained.  
  
        Dipper looked around the room in hopes of finding some article of clothing that he could lend his mind demon. His eyes landed on the only thing he could possibly think might work in this situation: One of Mabel's sweaters. The idea was so crazy, it just might work! Her sweaters were already ridiculously over-sized; it would definitely give Bill enough room. Dipper stepped up to the closet and removed a white one with a green, four-leafed clover in the center. (In other words, the least flamboyant sweater in sight) He held it up to Bill with a slight grimace.  
  
"Really? Is that...is that all that would work?" He asked, his voice wavering with pre-embarrassment.  
  
. . . . . . . . . . .  
  
Dipper and Bill walked cautiously down the stairs together, trying not to be seen, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, Bill had ended up with no other choice than to wear the sweater; and secondly, how would Dipper explain coming downstairs with some guy that hadn't come through the front door that morning? They gently stepped off of the last stair and crept down the hall towards the front door.  
  
        Just as they thought they were home free, they nearly jumped out of their skins. "Hey Dipper and....friend!" Mabel almost shouted as she jumped out from behind the corner.  
  
"Nothing! What, goodbye!" Dipper tried for the door but was stopped by a concerning look on his sister's face.  
  
"Is that...my sweater?"  
  
"NO!"  
"Yeah..."  
  
        Dipper and Bill said in unison. Dipper turned back to Bill, giving him a panicked and slightly angry face, "Why did you admit to it?!" He whispered through clenched teeth.  
  
"So...some stranger is wearing my sweater?" Mabel asked again, a look of confusion enveloping her face.  
  
"I can explain!" Dipper stated, though with a questioning tone.


	12. Hoodies and Feels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holy freaking...WHAT?! Just...fluffle feels on this stupid chapter, kay?

        Mabel stood with her arms crossed and eyes intently staring down her brother, awaiting her promised explanation. Dipper looked up to Bill for some sort of a suggestion for his sister, but all he got was a sort of shrug and an expression that said 'This is all your fault. You're the one that wanted to do this, you come up with the excuses.' He sighed and tried to begin wording things, "Well I- We, uh..."  
  
"You know what, I don't even think I want to know why. Just...wash it when you're finished." Mabel half grimaced, eyeing Bill up and down before she left the room.  
  
        Dipper let out a relieved puff of breath, grateful that for whatever reason, his sister didn't care to look further into the matter. "I think that went pretty well." Bill raised his hands up and tried to push down his unruly hair.  
  
"I suppose out of all possible circumstances, that was one of the better ones." Dipper replied, walking towards the door once more.  
  
        Bill followed closely, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of a pair of tan cargo shorts Dipper hand lent him. As they stepped out of the Mystery Shack, Bill stopped. "Hey, if we aren't even going to be around your family, why did you make me wear this?" He asked, sounding a bit upset.  
  
"Well, your suit isn't something people wear everyday during the summer." Dipper stated as if it were obvious.  
  
"But...a guy wearing a little girl's sweater is?" He retorted, removing his hands from the pockets of the shorts and folding his arms across his chest.  
  
        Dipper stopped and turned to Bill, figuring out an answer in his mind. Bill scoffed and huffed, "You have no excuse. The sweater is just as bad, if not worse, than the suit." He flounced past Dipper and begun down the trail that led away from the Mystery Shack with a pout spread across his face.  
  
"Wait, no...I-It's normal!" Dipper shouted out, trying to convince Bill he didn't just make him wear one of the most embarrassing things he would ever wear.  
  
        Bill whipped back around to face the Pines boy, "Dipper, you're an idiot! You don't think I can hear what people are thinking when they see me in this? I'm a freaking  _mind demon_! What do you think I do with my life?!" He rambled, flustered and rather upset, but not angry.  
  
        Dipper chased after him as he turned back and continued on down the trail. He quickly caught up to Bill and grabbed a hold on his shoulder, "If you want, I have a bit of money with me and we can get you a new shirt."  
  
"Okay!" Bill cried cheerily, almost as if his whole conundrum was all just an act to get Dipper to allow him to change.  
  
        Bill stepped behind Dipper, leaned forward, and wrapped his arms around the boy's chest. Dipper began to wriggle around a bit, attempting to free himself, until he realized what it was Bill was doing. An eerie, blue glow began to surround Dipper and his traveling companion, quickly closing in on them until it all flashed and became the entirety of their vision. The next thing Dipper saw was the heart of the town of little, ol' Gravity Falls.  
  
        The mind demon freed Dipper from his grasp, snatching the blue and white cap and placing it on his own head before pushing his hands back into his pockets. Dipper smiled and lightly chuckled, "Hey! That's mine!" as he attempted to reach the top of Bill's head with no success for the hat was just barely out of reach, slipping through his fingers as at the exact moment Dipper would leap for it, Bill would stand as tall as he could.  
  
        They rounded a corner to find a shop called the "Clothing Caboodle". "This one." Was all that escaped Bill's mouth as he turned to face the store and made a bee-line for the front doors.  
  
        Dipper turned and speed-walked after the boy that had an attention span of a squirrel. When they entered the store, they were greeted by employees that wore khaki pants, white shirts, blue vests with various types of buttons up and down the front sides, and a smile plastered onto their picture perfect faces that you could immediately tell were ones that they were paid to have.  
  


"Hi, I'm Tiffany!"  
"And I'm Brad!"  
"And we'll be helping you find whatever you need!" They ended in unison.  
  
"Hey Brad, Tiffany." Bill casually walked past them, almost pushing them to the side as if to say 'Yeah, thanks...but I don't need or want your help'.  
  
        Dipper apologized for his friend's rudeness to the employees and then chased after him, finding him to no surprise searching through variations of yellow tops. He pulled out three shirts and fled to the changing rooms. Yet once more, Dipper was left to follow the directly-to-the-point friend of his.  
  
        Bill had been in the changing room for no more than three minutes when he called out Dipper's name like a lost and confused animal, " _Dipper_! I neeeeeed you!" He called out.  
  
        Wishing to lower his volume, Dipper rushed over to the door of Bill's changing room. "What is it?" He asked in a quieter tone.  
  
        The answer he received was a quickly opened door with a hand that came out like a flash, grabbing hold of Dipper's arm and yanking him inside of the small stall. "What d'ya think?" Bill asked, holding out his arms and doing a slight turn to allow Dipper to see the whole thing.  
  
        Dipper, feeling a bit flustered once more by actions that Bill probably didn't even put a grain of thought into, blushed a bright pink. Bill raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders, impatiently awaiting his response. Dipper had to admit, what Bill had chosen looked pretty freaking cute on him. It was a, more of a golden shade than yellow, hoodie that flowed perfectly with the shape of Bill's new body, falling about five or six inches below the button of the shorts and with long enough sleeves that it just covered his knuckles.  
  
        Dipper nodded in a response and quickly dashed out of the changing room. He almost slammed the door behind him, a shiver running down his spine from the weird feeling that crept through his chest and made his heart beat faster than ever. Dipper looked up to find Tiffany hiding poorly behind a rack of shirts, staring at him with a smile. She saw that Dipper had noticed and came perkily walking up to him, "Sorry for staring, you two just seem so cute together!"  
  
"Oh! No, we're not-" He began, interrupted by the door behind him being flung open.  
  
"Why thank you Tiffany!" Bill almost shouted, throwing his arms around Dipper and resting his chin on the top of his head.  
  
        The feeling that had been worming its way around Dipper's heart hit him like a car, causing him to let out a sharp puff of his breath and his knees to quiver slightly, making him feel as if he were about to melt. Tiffany smiled at them and took the hoodie that Bill handed her, taking it to the cash register to ring up for the customers. As soon as Tiffany had left, Bill let go and Dipper almost fell. "I-uh, I'm okay!" He chuckled nervously.  
  
        Bill gave him a slightly questioning smile, but only laughed it off and walked over to the check-out lane Tiffany had walked off to. Dipper stood, watching as Bill walked away. God, even the way he walked was perfect. He tried to shake off the feeling and jogged after Bill.  
  
        Dipper handed the cashier a twenty dollar bill and received five dollars exactly as change. Before she could put it in the plastic bag, Bill snatched it from Tiffany's hands and stripped off the sweater right then and there. Dipper made a squeaking sound and turned his head away as Bill replaced Mabel's sweater with his new hoodie. As Dipper's breath quickened, Tiffany only gave Bill a disapproving frown and 'tsk' noise.  
  
        Bill turned his head in Dipper's direction and gasped with joy after he had seen what was just across the street, "Let's go get ice cream! I have not had that human sustenance yet!"  
  
        Dipper turned back to Bill with an almost red face and said "Okay." in more of a high-pitched tone than he would've preferred.  
  
        Bill ran out the door and across the street while Dipper shuffled after him. Dipper sighed with a sort of longing happiness as he watched Bill in front of the big, menu board, staring it down intently. As he watched the mind demon, Dipper wondered how long he would be able to keep up this little charade. He wondered how long it would be until he had to confess his feelings to Bill...as well as telling his sister and uncle.


	13. Brain Freeze

        Dipper stood at the counter, ordering the ridiculously large sundae Bill had commanded him to buy. The woman behind the counter smiled and laughed lightly as she lifted the bowl of ice cream to the counter and pushed it forward, not handing it to Dipper, due to that fact that this was the biggest portion of ice cream that had ever been seen before. It was at least the size of Dipper's head! "Thank you!" He began in a normal voice, but as he lifted the bowl, it turned into more of a strained groan with surprise at the weight of this edible object, shooting out obviously in the "oo" part of you.   
  
        Bill turned to look at Dipper, but he seemed to have disappeared! Glancing down, he saw the Pines boy hunched over with the precious human sustenance wrapped in his arms and he immediately came to the rescue, taking the bowl from Dipper's arms. Almost too easily, Bill strolled over to the concrete picnic table about ten feet from the stand and gently laid the bowl in the center, sliding into the seat in front of him. Dipper puffed as he plopped down on the opposite side, seeming a bit embarrassed that he was even able to carry a bowl of ice cream. Then again, it  _was_ about the size of his head!  
  
        Bill took one of the plastic spoons that laid atop the light pink napkins and began shoveling spoonfuls of the frozen treat into his mouth. Dipper began to laugh at him. "What?" He asked, pausing only for a moment to wait for his answer.  
  
"If you eat like that, you're bound to get a brain freeze!" Dipper said between fading laughs.  
  
        Bill shook his head and pressed his lips together in a fashion that made it look like he absolutely  _knew_ Dipper was wrong. "You underestimate me, Pine Tree. I am a creature made of nothing but pure energy and power! I do not get these 'frozen brains' you speak of."  
  
        And just as he continued to rapidly spoon the ice cream into his mouth, Bill felt a sharp pang run throughout his head, quickly engulfing his body in an almost numbing feeling. "Wh-What is this?!" He nearly shouted, dropping the spoon and raising his hands to his face, rubbing it in an attempt to warm it.  
  


"You see, brain freeze!" The laughter returned to Dipper's voice.  
  
"Stop laughing! What if this is permanent?!" Bill whined.  
  
"It's not, it's happened to me about a million times, Bill." He replied, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.  
  
"Oh..." Bill almost whispered, slowly reaching for his spoon once more.  
  
        He began to poke at the ice cream, waiting for the foretold absence of this horrid, chilling experience that raged about in his entire head. Bill looked up at Dipper and gestured towards the other, unused spoon, "You want some?"  
  
"Sure." He replied, grasping the plastic and taking only a small portion, not even a whole spoonful, as his first bite; obviously, Dipper was an experienced ice-cream-eater.  
  
        After playing with the dessert for a few minutes as the feeling began to fade, Bill began to eat it again, this time with smaller spoonfuls, like Dipper's. As he ate the ice cream slower, Bill began to delve into thought and expand his newer, human attributes. As he coated his taste buds in this creamy substance, he could taste just about every particle: The milky, yet sweet thick liquid of the ice cream, the warmer, rich hot fudge, and last, but most certainly not least, the maraschino cherry; artificially sweetened with so many sugars and with every healthy part ripped and pulled out of what was previously a fruit making almost impossible not to be found unbelievably delicious.  
  
        Even though being a possessive (Literally) mind demon had perks like never being able to be physically hurt or to ever get tired, being a human was probably just as great. Sure, you're a lot weaker, but you're also able to stop and spend time just experiencing what life is really like. The tastes, sights, smells, sounds, friends...all of it. As he scraped through his mind, Bill found a thought that he knew would be his downfall later on. He found that deep down, he knew he wouldn't want to be immortal if he couldn't spend eternity with the boy he most dearly loved. He knew he wouldn't be turning back into his other form without Dipper at his side.  
  
"Hey, you okay?" Dipper looked into Bill's eyes with a facial expression that resembled something close to a look of concern.  
  
"Uh, yeah." Bill stated, snapping back to reality.  
  
        Looking at the only half-eaten bowl of ice cream, he gave Dipper a suggestion, "Why don't we take the rest of this back to the Mystery Shack for Mabel? I mean, we did kind of steal her sweater and all..."  
  
"Yeah, good idea." Dipper smiled, getting up to walk over to the stand in order to request a to-go container.  
  
        The kind, young woman handed Dipper a large, styrofoam bowl and clear, plastic lid for their left overs. "I hope you enjoyed your stay! Come again!" She perkily stated.  
  
        Bill nodded politely with a small smile in response, trotting up to Dipper as they began their trek back to the shack. As they rounded  the corner from the ice cream stand, Bill placed a lengthy arm gently around the shoulders of Dipper, slowly pulling him closer until they were almost touching each other as they walked. The Pines boy waited, expecting Bill to transport them immediately to their destination...but he didn't. Not quite yet. They walked in this position, side by side, step in sync, for at least a good twenty minutes. That was when Bill decided it was time to get his "date" back home.  
  
        While leaning forward slightly, Bill once more came from behind and wrapped his arms around Dipper, and this time pulling his warm body closer to his own. Bill closed his eyes and took in the moment, memorizing the scraping sound the hardened leaves made as they were dragged across the concrete sidewalk by the gentle gusts of wind, memorizing the way it felt to have Dipper in his arms, radiating warmth and security, memorizing the sweet scent of cinnamon that emanated from the bakery just to their left. As he slowly opened his eyes, Bill focused on the Mystery Shack and the path that lay just in front of it, honing in on the location that he planned to take them.  
  
. . . . . . . .  
  
        The next thing Dipper knew, he and Bill were back at the shack. He could still feel Bill's arms wrapped tightly around his chest and decided to try to linger in them for as long as Bill had planned to keep them there. But, to his disappointment, they were removed sooner than Dipper had wished for. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways again, Pine Tree." Bill sighed with satisfaction as he looked down at Dipper.  
  
"I-I guess so." Dipper replied longingly.  
  
        Bill held out Mabel's sweater as well as the remainder of the ice cream for Dipper to retrieve. Instead of cooperating with the implied request, Dipper wriggled himself in between Bill's arms and wrapped his own arms around Bill's torso. He waited for what seemed like an entire year, but he eventually felt the not-so-evil-triangle's arms gently wrap around his body, though in a slightly awkward way due to the items that were already in his hands. Dipper looked up and stood on the tip of his toes, lifting himself up until he was only about two or three inches away from being eye-to-eye with Bill. He began to lean in, closing his eyes in the process as he did.  
  
        Dipper expected to feel Bill's lips finally make contact with his own, but was greeted with a cold gust of air as he almost stumbled forward. Correcting his posture and looking back up, he saw that Bill had teleported himself to a less romantically awkward location and had left the sweater and ice cream on the ground just to the right of where Dipper stood. Feeling a little disappointed, he shuffled over to the items, bending down to pick them up, then trudged back to the door. Before he turned the doorknob, Dipper looked over his shoulder, hoping to see some sign of Bill. But he didn't.


	14. A Hesitant Deal

        Mabel groaned with annoyance as she watched her twin brother sulk in the corner of their room. For some reason, it seemed like lately he had been on this emotional roller coaster or something! One day he would spend hours wrapped up in his blankets, the next he would be as giddy as a school girl, and then he'd be all depressing! And what was even more ridiculous than Dipper doing these things was the fact that he would make his emotions so blatantly obvious BUT NOT TELL HER WHAT THEY WERE ABOUT! "Dipper! Come  _on_! If you're going to rub your depression in my face, at least tell me  _why_!" She made a weird groan/growl noise.  
  
"I don't wanna talk about it..." He gloomily replied, turning his head to face the wall.  
  
        Mabel had just about had it with his nonsense! They shared  _everything_  with each other and this was killing her! " _Why are you being so freaking sad_?!" She yelled.  
  
"Geez, Mabel!" Dipper jumped, still looking annoyingly depressed.  
  
"You know what? Fine! I'm sick of trying to ask you what's wrong, so I'll find another way!" She grabbed an object unknown to Dipper from his bed and stomped out of the room.  
  
        As Mabel thumped down the stairs, she decided to leave the house altogether. After she slammed the door, Mabel walked down the path that led to town for about seven minutes, and then took a turn into the forest. She didn't go very far to ensure that she wouldn't get lost within these woods. As soon as she felt the trees were covering up her presence enough, she sat on a nearby log of a fallen tree. While sitting there, she wondered if she had gone a bit too hard on her brother. After all, whatever it was, the matter really seemed to be bothering him...she just wished Dipper would tell her.  
  
        After delving deep into her thoughts on the matter, Mabel straightened up, cleared her throat, and placed the item she had stolen in her lap. She looked down at the shiny, six-fingered hand shape on the cover of her brothers journal as she ran her small fingers down its spine. "I-I don't know what all is in here...but I hope something might help." She whispered to herself as she gently flipped open the cover, beginning her search for a cure to her twin's sorrow.  
  
        Page after page, Mabel's hope began to dwindle. Zombies, portal doors, floating eyes, none of this seemed like something that might raise Dipper's spirits. There was, however, one surefire way to figure out what was going on in his mind. Though it was almost certain to work, there were many risks and this creature didn't happen to be one of Mabel's favorites...but after scanning through pages for as long as she had, with the attention span she had, she was ready to go to her last resort.  
  
        With a heavy heart and a clouded, screaming conscience, Mabel turned to the page that had been dotted with some red substance she couldn't help but assuming was blood. She turned to the page that held none other than the mind demon Bill. She knew that this was the only thing in the journal that could help her do whatever she was supposed to do to rewire her brothers messed up emotions...but the last time she and the monstrous creature this page portrayed had met, they didn't end on very good terms. Even so, she loved her brother more than she cared to think about consequences.  
  
        Though the ritual on the page claimed that multiple candles arranged in a circle were needed, Mabel hoped that they weren't mandatory. She rose from the log and began reading from the page the summoning incantation:  _"Triangulum, entangulum. Veneforis dominus ventium. Veneforis venetisarium!"  
  
_         Once she had finished, she closed her eyes and held the journal close to her chest, preparing herself for whatever would happen. After remaining in this stance for almost a minute, she opened one eye and looked around. "What?" She sighed with disappointment as she noticed the spell had not worked for her.  
  
        Just as she had gathered her things and was about to walk back to the shack with no answers, a sudden blast of chilling wind hit her with such force that caused her to be knocked backwards. An eerie, ominous blue light formed the shape of a triangle and out of nowhere, there was Bill. (Might I add, in his normal, triangular state.) "Well well well, I seem to detect a very heavy odor of Pine!" Bill began, "So, you just couldn't keep away from-" He stopped as he opened his eye to find a more girlish and flamboyant Pines child.  
  
"What?" Mabel questioned, shooting Bill a rather confused glance.  
  
"Oh, huh, just...what do you want, kid?" He brushed off the sinking feeling that he hadn't been summoned by Dipper.  
  
        Still a little confused with this predicament, Mabel stood back up, brushing the dirt off of the back of her skirt. "I was- I  _am_  a little concerned about what's been going on with Dipper and...well...you're a mind demon. Of all of the creatures, I figured you might be able to help...?" She stammered her request.  
  
"Ah, I see!" Bill perked up a bit, happy to know that his little Pine Tree hadn't forgotten about him, "Well, I suppose I could figure out a way to help you in this little escapade of yours...but what's in it for me, Shooting Star?" He smirked.  
  
"Anything! Well, anything within reason, I guess..." Mabel replied almost immediately.  
  
"Anything..." Bill hummed repeatedly to himself, combing his brain for something to take from this girl.  
  
        Though there were many a-thing that he would love to ask for, this was the sister of his....crush... He couldn't possibly risk asking for something that might have a negative reaction on either Dipper or their relationship. "Alright, I'll help you. I don't quite have a hankering for anything in particular at the moment, so I'll just take an IOU. I know, same rules apply, nothing completely ridiculous." He held out his hand. waiting for the pairing of his and Mabel's to "seal the deal". __  
  
Mabel stared at the outward stretched hand of the mind demon's, trying to consider all of the scenarios in which this would go wrong, and trust me, there were a lot. With hesitation, she inched closer, "Deal." She said with wavering confidence as she clasped her fingers around his cold hand, almost instantaneously feeling a sinking regret as she saw the blue flame light and flicker around their hands.


	15. Thanks for The Memories

        It was almost noon and Dipper had not yet gone downstairs. His sister had obviously gotten fed up with his attitude and stormed off, leaving him to stew in his sorrow and self-pity. He really did want to be happy and be able to leave his room before the afternoon came straggling along, but he couldn't seem to get Bill out of his mind! With the way he left yesterday, who could?  
  
        His lips parted as a gaping yawn pushed its way through Dipper’s mouth, his eyes drooping as he all of a sudden felt a wave of an intense sleepiness sweep over him. Figuring that this was just a side effect of staying up all night thinking of what had happened, Dipper stood up and trudged from the corner to his bed, almost falling over with each step he took. As he reached the side of his bed, the boy flopped on top of his springy bed, his body lightly bouncing a few times as the mattress adjusted to the sudden weight change. It seemed almost instant; once his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he had made a deal with the other Pines twin. Bill had to figure out what was going haywire with Dipper's emotions, and he got the chilling feeling that he already knew what it was that seemed to be haunting the boy. The mind demon floated through the walls of the Mystery Shack and up the stairs, turning to face the door that held none other than the boy he used to possess. Hesitating while at the same time taking a deep breath, he flew into the room, and entered the boy's mind.  
  
"Alright, I've done this a thousand times before," Bill mumbled to himself as he hovered down Dipper's Memory Lane (Literally), "All I've got to do is look at some of the more recent stuff and I'll be outta here!"  
  
        Though he was a little scared with what he might find, Bill's curiosity levels began to rise at a surprising rate as he thought of some of the more recent things going on in the boy's life. His mind began to race as the thought of being able to find out exactly what Dipper thought of him just so happened to float on by.   
  
        As Bill flew down the hall inside of Dipper's mind, he kept a rapid pace, passing by all of the older memories and ones that he had already seen. He soon began to see glimpses of more recent things, thus slowing down to a browsing speed. "No....No.....No...." Bill mumbled to himself as he went from door to door, taking a deeper look inside.  
  
        While sighing with impatience, Bill took a survey of all that the eye could see, trying to find some sign of newer memories. As soon as he saw the sign, he hit the center of his triangular forehead. There was a big sign just at the end of the hall that said "Bill Memories"! He began the rather short distance to the sign while at the same time repeatedly telling himself that he was "so stupid" with a slight, embarrassed chuckle in between his insults.  
  
        When he reached the beginning of the new hallway made specifically for him, the first thing he noticed was an abundance of yellow coloring. The hallway was chock full of doors; every door containing a very special mind demon. Bill just kind of stood there in amazement, soaking in the beauty of it all; well, more like soaking in the beauty of himself. He decided to go at least halfway down the hall, seeing as there would probably be many earlier memories of himself just in the beginning assuming this hallway was in chronological order. As Bill came up to what he estimated was about halfway down the hall, he opened the first door to his right.  
  
        "Do you want to know the exact time and date of your death?" Bill heard as he stared right at his former self when he had possessed Dipper's body as he briefly spoke to this "Soos" person.  
  
"Not quite...but getting there..." The triangle impatiently mumbled to himself as he continued on with a new found annoyance for his previous invovlements in Dipper's life, "Ah! I think this is about right!" He said with relief laced in all of his words now that he knew he wouldn't have to go on searching for an extended period of time, like he had to do in the mind of Stanford Pines.  
  
"How's it been, Dipper?!" Bill heard a more excited voice of his own from the more recent past.  
  
        He smiled as he watched the first time he and Dipper had met whilst Bill had obtained his newer, more human, form. It was funny, it really was. Though it wasn't that long ago, there had been a lot of change. Dipper used to get so nervous and sweaty with his teenage hormones and testosterone and whatnot, but now...now he was a lot more  _comfortable_ , I guess the word would be, around Bill. "Alright, well I suppose I do have a task at hand." Bill reminded himself, shutting the door.  
  
        Bill already knew what it was that was making Dipper so...uneasy. He already knew that it was his own fault, but he just couldn't figure out how to word it. Judging by all of the pushing and disguising Dipper had done to keep him out of his family's line of sight, he most likely wouldn't want them to find out Bill was...well, Bill, maybe he didn't want them to even know he had met anyone. Whilst pushing the worrying thought to the back of his head, Bill allowed his curiosity to take control of his consciousness and continued on down the hall, not to fulfill Mabel's request, but to quench his thirst for knowledge.  
  
        Though he had already passed by numerous amounts of doors that held memories of no one other than himself, there still seemed to be a countless amount that laid ahead of him. A slight smile began to spread across Bill's face as his mind began to wander, "Heh...I wonder how often Pine Tree thinks of me." He thought aloud.  
  
        It wasn't that Bill was beginning to get cocky or anything, there were obviously many more recent doors in Dipper's memory compared to the times Bill had actually made contact with the boy. Bill now began to slow his pace and scan each door closely. As he was coming to the end of the hall, when he had maybe twelve doors in front of him, he stopped and turned to the closest one to his left, opening it to lay eyes on whatever was to be inside.  
  
        What was behind that door was something that Bill most certainly could not have prepared himself for. He could feel a swelling in his chest that hurt like nothing he'd ever felt, and this feeling that swept over his entire being, something he thought he had heard others refer to as "guilt"...it...it was something he never could have thought a creature such as himself could feel. All that was behind that door was Dipper. Dipper laying curled up and heavily covered in blankets in his bed. Dipper with red, puffy eyes that held evidence of many tears falling from them not too long ago. Dipper wondering why he couldn't find the courage to confess his feelings, wondering why his heart throbbed so much whenever Bill was around, wondering why Bill was the one to cause him all of these emotional roller coasters...wondering why Bill was even in his life.


	16. "Boyfriend"?

        Mabel sat on the log rather impatiently as she twiddled her thumbs whilst waiting for the demonic mind dorito. As she waited, she looked around in any place that might hold something to distract herself, but nothing seemed to work. While sighing with a worried puff of breath, she looked down at her wrist to check the time and then mentally scolded herself as she recalled that she didn't even own a watch.  
  
        Just when Mabel felt that she was about to burst from all of this waiting, Bill arrived in a flash of blue flames. It seemed to be a rather dramatic entrance for such a sad looking monster. "So...?" She asked as she immediately stood to her feet, not bearing to remain seated any longer than she had to be.  
  
"Apparently, your brother is just going through normal symptoms of when you humans get emotionally attached to another." He gloomily replied.  
  
"Wait, are you saying he's like...seeing someone? Who?!" Mabel shot out before Bill could even answer the first question.  
  
"Yes, he is "seeing someone"," Bill held up annoyed air quotations with his stubby, little fingers, "And it's also none of your business!" He snapped back.  
  
        Feeling rather offended, Mabel took a step back and gave him a skeptical look. "I'm the one that made a deal with you to find out what was wrong with my brother, and I want more answers!" She attempted to negotiate.  
  
"You think I don't know how to keep up my end of the deal?" Bill scoffed, folding his arms across his triangular chest, "Kid, I've been making deals since before you were even a thought! Besides, I did hold up my end of the bargain. You asked me to find out what was wrong with your brother and I did. I'm not going to divulge any more knowledge unless you want to offer something else."  
  
        Mabel stood there opening and closing her mouth as if she had thought of things to say but had decided not to say them. A frustrated look clouded her face as she tried to think of a counter argument, but nothing seemed to come to mind. "Well, since things here don't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, I guess my work is done!" Bill uttered with an eager tone as he clasped his hands together and poofed himself off to some unknown location.  
  
        With her shoulders now slumped and head hanging, Mabel began to trudge back to the Mystery Shack. She had just made a deal with an experienced mind demon for god knows what and she hadn't even gotten all of the information she wanted! Well, at least she knew part of the reason why Dipper was acting so down lately. Wait a minute, she knew why he was upset, and it was because of  _ROMANCE_! "Oh my god, what?!" Mabel almost shouted as she came to a complete halt as she realized the information that had practically just been handed to her on a silver platter.  
  
        Now with a smile plastered where her frown once lay, Mabel picked up her pace and rapidly pranced back to her brother's location, eager to question him about everything that continued to raise her curiosity levels.  
  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
  
        Dipper's eyes shot open faster than a bullet train. He shoved his body upwards as he pushed down on the bed, releasing a slight gasp as he came to. The boy raised his left hand to his head and began to rub his forehead, wondering why, and how, he had fallen asleep in the middle of a summer's day. Shaking his head in an attempt to throw the question from his mind, he slid off of the bed and slightly wobbled as his legs adjusted to being used once more.  
  
       He had just lifted his hand up to the doorknob when Dipper heard the approaching sound of two feet thumping against the hardwood floors. Immediately wishing he had at least taken a step back, the door was flung open, hitting him in the head and causing him to stumbled backwards a few feet. Wincing in pain, he took his hand to his nose, feeling a warm gush of blood dribble down his lips. " _Dipper_!" His twin sister screeched as she saw him.  
  
        At first, he thought she had been shocked by the fact that she had just injured her brother, but she began to ramble on about something that Dipper couldn't even begin to comprehend for two reasons. One, he was bleeding and in pain, two, she was talking so fast that absolutely no one on this earth would be able to understand her unless they slowed down her pace by about five times. The only thing he could get out of her big speech was something about romance. "Mabel, just...just slow down, okay?" He pleaded.  
  
"Uuuuughh!" She groaned in response, apparently irritated by the fact that Dipper couldn't understand words that were coming at him at the speed of light, "Okay, so to shorten up this whole thing,  _I know_!" Mabel finished, staring down her brother for some sort of answer.  
  
"You-You know what?" Dipper gave her a heavily confused stare in return.  
  
"I know that you've got a  _girlfriend_!" She laughed with pure innocence and excitement.  
  
        As soon as Dipper heard the last word uttered from his sister's mouth, he felt his heart skip a beat. Despite the fact that Mabel had gotten the gender part wrong, she still knew he had some form of relationship...apparently. "I-I don't have....I don't have a girlfriend." He tried to defend himself with a voice higher pitched than normal.  
  
        Mabel's smile only seemed to widen, if that was even possible. "Come  _on_ , Dipper! I know, so just admit it." She stated with absolute certainty.  
  
"W-Well, I don't....quite....I don't have a  _girl_ friend..." He instantly regretted even opening his mouth as he realized he had unintentionally added much more emphasis on the "girl" part of his sentence.  
  
"Wait, so are you saying.... You're saying you've got a  _boy_ friend?" His sister asked, her smile faltering as she began to put pieces of the puzzle together.  
  
"N-No, I'm just sa- That's not.....It's not your business!" Dipper stammered as he tried to sound tough, but it all just came out sounding like a child crying out for help.  
  
        Just when he thought Mabel was about to look down upon him and cast him out of her life for having a "boyfriend", her smile returned to his confusion. "Dipper, this is  _awesome_!" She began, even more excited than before.  
  
"Wait, so...you're not upset or anything?" He asked.  
  
"No! Now we can stay up all night talking about all of the cute boys together!" She began jumping up and down, now being unable to hold her excitement.  
  
"I don't really think that's how it works, Mabel." He tried to tell her even though at this point, there would be no convincing her otherwise.  
  
        All of a sudden, Mabel halted her little celebration for her discovery and stepped closer to her brother. "I can't believe I forgot to ask in the first place," She scolded herself aloud, "Who is it?"


	17. When It All Hits The Fan

        Dipper felt the same feeling of fear crawling under his skin as he reached for a tissue on his desk to hold up to his bloodied nose, trying to think of what he would say in response to his sister's question. All that ended up coming out of his mouth when Dipper opened it was a strained puff of breath. "Who is it?" Mabel repeated with the same amount of energy, excitement, and urgency.  
  
        As Dipper looked down on his twin sister's face; he could see how kind and accepting she had been towards him lately even through all of his...drama. In fact, he was almost tempted to reveal his and Bill's little secret. Mabel stood there, expectantly awaiting her response, but as more time passed than would have been expected, her smile began to waver. "I-I can't..." It came out as almost an inaudible whimper as Dipper dashed out of their room and down the flight of stairs.  
  
        He honestly didn't know what to do now. His sister knew, and soon enough with her capability of keeping secrets, everyone else would too. Heart pounding, walls closing in on him, shortness of breath; Dipper knew he had to get out of here, out of the shack before he began going insane. Dashing down the hallway and out the front door, Dipper's mind locked on to his destination and he began sprinting down to that same forest trail that had began all of...whatever this had become.  
  
        His shaky, labored breathing slowly began to steady as he slowed to a speed-walk once Dipper felt he was far enough along on the trail. He soon came upon the same fallen tree that he had sat on the day Bill found him, stepping over to it and landing roughly on top of it. Looking around at his surroundings, Dipper took a moment to take in all that would happen because of this one trivial piece of information slipping out. A small question of "How did she find out?" fluttered around in the back of his mind, but most of his thinking capacity was focused on more pressing matters. Things like how would Mabel and Stan and...and everyone react when they found out it was Bill? Because, face it, they  _would_  be finding out! It was only a matter of time...  
  
        With being so deep into thought, Dipper didn't even realize it until it hit his lips. A single tear, streaming down his face and curving to conform with his lips so that just when he opened them, the salty taste hit his tongue. His face contorted as one, then two, then countless more followed the first, falling off of the tip of his chin and splattering all over the surface of his legs. With a chest heaving with shakier and heavier breaths, Dipper leaned forward and pushed his face into his hand, his elbows resting gently on his knees. Why had he even made a comment on his sister's accusations? If he had just kept quiet, there was a chance,  _a small chance_ , that he and Bill could have kept this whole thing a big secret!  
  
"Pine Tree?" A soft, caring voice came from not-so-far away.  
  
        Dipper pulled his face from the palms of his hands and looked up to find Bill standing in front of him with a concerned look plastered across his perfectly shaped, human face. Bill quickly advanced to Dipper's side, placing himself to the right of him on top of the fallen tree and gently rested his arm along the boy's shoulders. "What is it, Dipper?"  
  
        A short, sad sounding chuckle arouse from him, "I-I think that's the first time you've ever called me by my actual name." Dipper smiled up at Bill with puffy, red eyes.  
  
        A sharp pang shot through, what would be argued to be, Bill's heart as he looked down on his pain-filled face. "What's the matter?" He tried to keep his voice strong, though it ended up wavering at the end.  
  
"I don't know how, but Mabel found out. She found out about us. She doesn't know it's you, thank God, but she knows something's up." As the information spewed from Dipper's mouth and poured into the ears of Bill, he felt himself grow tense.  
          
        It was all because of him. Sure, he had willingly accepted the offer Shooting Star had made, but he never put that much thought into it. Figures, the one time he was reckless he ends up screwing up something that was actually valuable to  _himself_. Now...now Dipper was all distraught over the fact that he  _finally_ has a relationship with someone and  _somebody knows_! Honestly, it didn't seem like that big of a deal to Bill, but then again, what does? "I-Is it really that bad?" He began with a sort of bargaining tone.  
  
"Yes!" Dipper shouted out a lot quicker than Bill would've suspected, "Take a minute to think about it, Bill. You've been messing around with my family for who knows how long! Because I definitely know that Mabel and I aren't the first of the Pines' family you've encountered before. Everyone who had ever encountered you now has a reason to want you dead or worse. And that's only one reason!"  
  
        With this information now circulating in his mind, Bill began to ponder the fact of whether or not there had ever  _actually_  been anyone that he had met that he  _hadn't_  pissed off...but none came to mind. Suddenly, the fear that had been swirling around in Dipper's mind, controlling his every action, was now made painfully clear to Bill. Dipper's whole plan to keep them both safe from the grasp of his family had been shattered thanks to one stupid, triangular mind demon.  
  
"Are you going to tell them? I mean, Mabel knows, right?"  
  
"Yeah, she knows, but I don't think I'm ready to tell them all just yet." Dipper planted his face back into his hands, wondering how all of this was going to work out for them both.  
  
        As he looked down at how worried and upset Dipper was, a strange feeling passed over him. A huge cocktail of emotions surging through his mind and coursing through his body; anger, love, pain...all of it. "No." He said, standing to his feet, "We shouldn't be fearing them! We don't deserve to be treated this way-  _YOU_  don't deserve to be treated this way!" Bill began, grabbing hold of Dipper's hands.  
  
        Dipper stood with him, looking up into Bill's single, golden eye. "If we're going to be together," He gently ran his hand down Dipper's jawbone, "...we're going to do it  _without_  living in fear! I'm a  _demon_  for Pete-sake! And.....and I want you to know something." Bill began to falter, "When it all goes down," He came back in, this time with a much stronger, more confident, and quieter voice, "When all of the shit hits the fan, I.... _I love you_."


	18. I Love You

"Dipper!" Mabel called after her twin brother as he sprinted from their room.  
  
        What was the big deal? She already knew  _and_ she accepted his life decisions! What more could he want? Letting out a frustrated groan, she trudged down the stairs and made a sharp turn around the banister, shuffling into their kitchen to find Stan lounging in his boxers at the table, reading over the Gravity Falls local newspaper. With a melodramatic sigh that seemed to echo throughout the entire room, Mabel sat down in the chair at the opposite end of the table from Stan. "Is this supposed to be something I should care about or is it just another one of your emotional roller coasters?" Stan asked without even moving aside the news article.  
  
"This is the biggest problem  _ever_ , Grunkle Stan." She pouted, laying the side of her face against the cool, oak table.  
  
        With this, Stan begrudgingly folded up his daily paper and laid it gently to the right of his table placement. "What is it, kid?" He asked with an almost pouting expression.  
  
"It's Dipper," She began, "He's been acting really weird lately and...well, he just told me something and now he's all upset. I think he left the house." She placed her folded arms on top of the table in front of her face.  
  
        Stan grunted with a sliver more interest than previously, "Well, just give your brother some space and maybe he'll get back to normal soon...or whatever."  
  
"Grunkle Stan, it's not that simple!" Mabel cried out in frustration, "It's my fault that he's upset and I don't know what to do about it!"  
  
"Okay, then what did you do?" He asked, leaning back into his chair with his arms now folded across his chest, resting slightly on his outward extending stomach.  
  
        Mabel froze, thinking frantically of something, anything to tell Stan. She couldn't tell him what was  _actually_  going on; Dipper got upset when she found out, Mabel couldn't possibly imagine what would happen if Stan knew. After waiting longer than his attention span would allow, Stan decided to be the one to break the silence, "Fine, I know you kids have your secrets, but if you won't tell me, I can't help you. All I can do is suggest stuff that might be remotely close to your problem." He explained to his niece.  
  
"I-I think I can live with that." Mabel relaxed slightly as she came to the realization that, although most people would consider him a terrible person, Grunkle Stan was kind enough to know when not to pry.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"You  _what_?" Dipper's voice came out sounding like nothing more than a barely audible squeak.  
  
        As Bill let the words that had just escaped his mouth sink in, his brain finally kicked in and he began to panic. What had he done?! Confessing love to a  _human_?! Not just a human, but one that was going through some kind of teenage, sexual-awareness crisis that many could argue was too young to be in love with a creature of undetermined age and species such as himself. "What? Wait... _what_?" Was all that seemed fit to utter at a moment such as this one.  
  
"You...You  _love_  me?" Dipper questioned, slightly leaning away from Bill.  
  
"Uh, pssshhh, are you kidding me? No! I didn't.....I didn't say that." It sounded as if Bill was trying more to convince himself rather than Dipper.  
  
        At the sight of the flustered, blonde-haired boy, Dipper couldn't help but let a smile spread across his face. Most would be disgusted and repelled by this confession from a mind demon, but Dipper....no, Dipper seemed to have the absolute opposite reaction. It finally felt like all of the puzzle pieces fit together in this jumbled mess of a situation. All of the conflicted feelings that had begun to develop over these past few months seemed to finally make sense to him. Dipper knew he had feelings for Bill; feelings that were stronger than just a couple of friends, or even best friends. He knew deep down in his heart that he loved Bill in return. "I...I love you too." He uttered, averting his eyes and turning his face to the forest floor in a pathetic attempt to shield his reddening cheeks from Bill.  
  
        As Bill heard the Pines boy's response, he halted all of his ridiculous, floundering attempts to cover up what had accidentally slipped through his teeth and stared intently down at him, thinking of nothing more than how much he absolutely adored the way Dipper wasn't afraid to open himself up to Bill. "You know, I do believe that was what I said." He smiled down at Dipper, finally accepting his feelings as well as the sentence he had stated only moments before.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        After her conversation with the ever-so-wise Stanford Pines, Mabel had decided to go out and look for her brother. She marched directly up to her and her brother's room, threw on a new sweater that she deemed worthy for what she had decided to be her "Search and Rescue Mission", retrieved her pet pig, and set out on a not-so-long journey that, with her attitude, would be turned into the most interesting adventure the world of today will have ever seen. "Come on Waddles, we're going  _to find my brother_!" She stated with an attempted "movie trailer guy" voice as she looked off dramatically to where she decided would be the perfect place for a camera if this had been a reality TV show.  
  
        Mabel flew down the stairs in a rapid speed with her hog at her heels and dashed out the front door to begin her trek. " _WE'VE FOUND A CLUE_!" She shouted out as she looked down and spotted a footprint left in a patch of mud due to the summer rains that had been drifting through that she decided at random  _had_  to be her brother's.  
  
        After searching around the clearing for about fifteen minutes, Mabel concluded that the footprints led off in the direction of the forest trail. Though the footprints that she had "followed" were not those of her brother's and even though she only guessed a direction at random, it was the correct path that led to Dipper. With more excitement than thought humanly possible, she happily blundered through any and all shrubbery and grasses that stood in her way.  
  
        Despite the fact that Mabel had gotten the location correct, her timeline would be off by a few minutes. Due to her excessive and unnecessary preparation and lengthy "clue searching", when she would reach the location her brother was at, he would have already "fled the scene".  
  
TO BE CONTINUED... (Whaaaaaaat?!)


	19. Pretty Unlikely

        A cool breeze swept through the sleepy town of Gravity Falls, rustling fallen leaves and shoving itself against pedestrians that dared stand in its way. The branches of a wilting weeping willow swayed back and forth in the push and pull, emitting the gentle noise of its leaves and branches flailing in the wind just above two male figures that would surely be shunned by the whole town if even a single one knew of their relations. The two of them laid carelessly under the tree, lost in their minds as they stared into the waving limbs of the tree above them; the one in the golden hoodie, dappled in specks of wandering sunlight, with his arm placed firmly, yet gingerly, along the small shoulders of his companion.  
  
"What do we do now?" The smaller boy turned to lay on his side, positioning himself closer to the other as he almost whispered the question into the crook of his neck which the boy's head now lay.  
  
        Bill's mind returned to reality as he pondered the question that neither of them had wanted to think about for the past hour. "I-I'm not sure yet." His voice wavered slightly as he spoke with complete honesty, "But I've got at least twelve percent of a plan."  
  
        Dipper allowed a smile to cross his face, spreading in the blink of an eye and leaving just as fast. "I'll have to go back home sometime." He admitted.  
  
"I mean, you don't  _have_  to, ya know?" The mind demon turned to look into the eyes of his partner that still had an undetermined title.  
  
        Bill felt a flurry of butterflies roam around inside of his heart as he saw those mousy brown eyes of his stare deeply into his own and his exceptionally white teeth peek through his lips as his smile grew wider, clearly amused at Bill's statement. "No, I'm serious." He added, "We could just... _leave_." He disturbed their previous, intimate position as he moved his arms back, pushing his upper body half upwards and supporting his weight on his elbows as he now was left at a slanted position which was not quite laying, and not quite sitting.  
  
"Bill, I can't, I- What about Mabel? She would be devastated." Dipper sighed, pushing himself into a complete sitting position with his legs crossed as he brought Bill's ideas back down to a more reasonable state of mind, "I mean...it does sound nice and all, but we can't."  
  
"Geez, way to be a party pooper." Bill grumbled with only a sliver of actual frustration.  
  
        Dipper shook his head as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and gingerly placing his forehead into the palms of his hands. "Do we just...keep on doing what we've  _been_ doing, do we come clean, do we-" He was cut off.  
  
"We do whatever you feel is right." Bill replied in full certainty, "You're the one that will have any sort of consequence if this thing goes public. I'm just a mind demon. If things get hairy, I can just teleport somewhere else; you'd be the one stuck with all of the trivia from your family and the townsfolk and whatnot."   
  
"Thanks..." Dipper whispered almost inaudibly as he tried to fit all of the pieces of this mess together in his mind to formulate even half of an idea.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Diiipperrrrr!" Mabel called out repeatedly as she wandered along the forest trail, "Where is he?" She grumbled as she looked down to her pet pig, Waddles.  
  
        Though she had been only thinking aloud, it seemed to have been a question directed to her hog, but all she received in a response was a short and sharp oink from the animal. As they marched along down the path, Mabel began to wonder if her brother was even in the woods. Sure, it was a nice place to run away to, but her brother could've gone anywhere. Just as she was only a few minutes from the lake, just a few minutes from the exact location that her brother and the mind demon had run off to, she had come to the decision to turn around and walk back empty handed to her home for the summer. "Come on Waddles, I don't think we'll find him here." She let out an over-dramatic sigh of defeat.  
  
        The two of them returned to their home in a time shorter than Mabel had expected, making a bee-line towards the television that sat on a small, wooden stand in the cozy living room of their shack. The female twin decided that if she had much of a chance at finding her brother, the best thing for her to do would be to simply wait for his return.  
  
        As the girl and her pig entered the room, they found the lazy beast that went by the name of "Stan" fast asleep on the yellow couch parallel to the television with one of his arms hanging over the armrest and his legs splayed across at least half of the couch. Despite the constant conversations of how much he hated most things and how manly he said he was, the channel that had been left playing in front of the man in a slumber was none other than an old, romantic soap-opera. With this, Mabel let out a small giggle and decided to just go up to her own room, making herself a reminder to pester him about it later when he was awake.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        After discussing the matter in more depth, the two had decided that they would continue to leave the identity of Bill a secret and leave their more-than-just-a-friendship type of relationship buried as well. For all Dipper's family knew, this was just some kid off the street that, for some reason, chose to be little Dipper's new friend. The two of them rose to their feet and moved their hands about their own bodies, brushing off any unwanted strands of grass or specks of dirt that may have gathered while they sat. As they prepared to leave the scene, Bill looked down at Dipper and grinned as he extended a hand in his direction. Looking up from his "dirt check", Dipper saw the gaze that Bill had placed on him and he could feel his heart rate begin to quicken. Then, as he stood staring into the other boy's eyes for an extended period of time, did he realize the hand that had been extended, "Oh, right." He softly chuckled, hesitantly taking hold of the other's hand.  
  
        The moment their skin touched, Bill felt a tension in his chest that made him consider if his heart had just shattered to pieces. Even though his feelings had been confessed, it felt as if there would never be any rest from the feelings that this boy constantly put him through. Just think about it, an all-powerful mind demon falling for the likes of some boy from a town that most had never even heard of. Sounds pretty unlikely, doesn't it?


	20. Broken Windows and Broken Dreams

        The sun began to droop down below the horizon and momentarily linger as the sky began to transition from shades of pink, orange, and red into a deep purple, and then the black of night with only the stars to light the sky as they waited for the appearance of the moon. The gentle afternoon breeze that had begun to sweep through the town just that afternoon seemed to strengthen under the nocturnal influence, sending citizens fleeing for their homes as the tenacious gusts hurdled down every street, past every building, and into every nook and cranny accessible. The strengthened weather quickly made its way through the town, into the forest, and to the Mystery Shack, ferociously thrusting itself upon a window that had been left open. Consequentially, the hinged window was given such a push that it swung back and slammed into the wall, creating a frightening crash and shattering the glass that resided inside of the panes. As the noise reverberated throughout the living room, it pierced the ears of one Stan Pines, sending him leaping into consciousness and releasing a jumble of phrases that consisted of: " _Who-_ ", " _Holy sh-_ ", and " _What the hell was that?!_ "  
  
        The man's heart rate began to slowly decrease as he came to the realization that this was not a robbery, nor was it any sort of an attacker, only a shattered window. He rose from the couch and approached the scene of the crime, crouching down to examine the amount of glass that had been lost in this tragic event. "Geez, this is definitely going to put a dent in my pocket..." Stan grumbled as he picked up the custom-made stained glass pieces that were strewn about the floor.  
  
        As he shuffled to the kitchen to toss the remains into the garbage can, he glanced outside and noticed the approaching darkness and thought of the two teens that were left in his care for the summer. "Ya know, maybe I should check on them." Stan thought aloud as he recalled Mabel telling him of Dipper's retreat into the woods.  
  
        The old man trudged down the hall and began stomping up the steps, moving his hand under his glasses and over his face as he rubbed the last fragments of slumber from himself. Stan silently gripped the door handle and pushed the door open just enough for him to glance in and survey the surroundings. What he found was Mabel laying on her stomach, reading some girlish magazine with her pig laying on the back of her legs fast asleep and a concerning empty bed parallel to hers. With a frown, Stan closed the door and began to run possibilities through his mind in relation to the absence of Dipper. Was he just downstairs? Was he in the bathroom? ...Did he ever come back?  
  
        The last question he asked himself sent an uncomfortable twist spiraling through his stomach, leaving behind many knots at the thought of having lost his nephew. Stan, with a more quickened and determined pace, receded down the stairs and began going room to room, checking for any signs of the boy. With each room that he found empty, another knot was formed and he began to scold himself for being so stupid as to fall asleep in the midst of one of Dipper's "storm-outs".   
  
        Finally, as he looked into the last possible room, finding it as empty as all of the others, Stan almost ran to his room to put on clothes sensible enough for searching out in the, what was now, a storm. The vicious wind had somehow doubled in speed and strength, screaming as it raked along the sides of the house. Small orbs of water flew from the skies and pelted themselves upon any victim that found itself in the crossfire. While Stan finished getting changed and headed for his car, his mind began flying to the worst possible scenarios.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Dipper called out into the storm, his voice almost lost in all of the commotion.  
  
"Y-Yeah...I think so." Bill yelled back hesitantly.  
  
        The two of them fought against the wind as it slammed into them repeatedly, attempting to push either of them back. The drops of rain that fell felt like pins and needles on their faces, tiny and constant. It was dark, stormy, and neither of them could see very well. As Dipper moved as quickly as he could, making sure to stay as close as he could to the bright, golden hoodie that beamed in front of him, he glanced down to check for any sign of the dirt path that had become so familiar to him. Alas, it was no use. The entire forest floor seemed to be consistently made of nothing but mud.  
  
"How are you not certain of where we're going? Aren't you some kind of...powerful demon thing?" Dipper shouted out again, fear beginning to creep into his throat.  
  
"Yeah, I'm a mind demon! Not a freaking GPS!" Bill hissed back in a tone that seemed annoyed, though only he knew deep down that it was to mask the uncertainty and fear that was spilling over.  
  
        Now in silence, the two trudged forward on what they assumed to be the trail. There was an intense flash of light off to their distant left and Dipper turned quickly to determine what it was; though as soon as he did, he almost slipped and fell as he practically jumped out of his skin when a deafening, crackling bolt of thunder followed what had to have been just a strike of lightening. Dipper felt a strong grip clench down on his right arm, steadying his balance in the slippery mud. "Thanks." He sighed in relief, knowing that he wouldn't be landing face-first in a wet pile of mud.  
  
        Bill only nodded in acknowledgment, turning back to face the direction they had started in with nothing on his mind other than returning Dipper to his home safely.  _Focus. Just think, it's gotta be around here somewhere!_  Bill thought to himself, desperation picking at a small corner in his brain. He squinted his eyes, trying to see further ahead in their path. His attempt may have been successful if it wasn't raining. Each time Bill's eyes began to come close to focusing and he thought he might've been able to see something, flecks of rain showered his face and blurred his vision, causing his entire being to fill with white hot rage. "Dammit! I can't see anything in this storm!" Bill shouted as he became too fed up to deal with safety anymore.  
  
"What?!" Dipper squeaked in a concerned voice as he felt Bill's strong hand grip his wrist and begin yanking him forward, "Bill! Maybe w-we should stop! If you don't know where you're going, wouldn't it be dangerous to just...plow ahead?" He stammered, trying to reason with the blundering boy.  
  
"We need to get out of these woods,  _that's_  what we need!" Bill retorted with utmost certainty as his grasp only tightened, almost dragging Dipper along now.  
  
        The only thing that Dipper seemed to be allowed to do was follow along. That, or saw his arm off, because there was no way that Bill would be releasing his wrist anytime soon. All around, trees began to moan and groan in protest to the weight of the weather being forced upon them. Branches and leaves were whipping around, smacking the boys in their faces and raking across their arms as they flew by. Not long after, Dipper heard a loud, deep crack echo throughout the woods. "Bill! I really think we should slow down!" He began to panic as he looked around for any danger that the elder boy seemed to ignore.  
  
"I told you Pine Tree-!" Bill's voice was silenced as the loud crack transitioned into a slow, increasing moan.  
  
        The careless one looked up to see what had dared to quiet him and instantly turned sheet white. " _Run!_ " He shrieked, shoving the Pines boy forward as he plowed through the mud.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
         _The forest, right? That's what Mabel said, wasn't it?_  Stan thought to himself as he drove his car along the edges of the forest that surrounded his humble abode. He had been combing the trees with his vision for only five minutes but Stan already felt in the pit of his stomach that something must've gone wrong. Fed up with his previous method, Stan recklessly shoved himself out of his car and began trekking into the deep, dark forest.  
  
        Without the usual humiliation that would've cloaked him if this hadn't been in such a dire circumstance, Stan thought aloud: "Now, if I were an emotionally unstable teen blundering through the forest, where would I go?"  
  
        He began listing all of the landmarks that he could recall residing in his uncharted land, for he knew this forest like the back of his hand. In the end, Stan had it narrowed down to three different locations that might've been possible locations Dipper would flee to, all of which were placed alongside the dirt path back near his home. With impressive speed for someone at his age, Stan fled back to his vehicle and drove faster than he should've in this weather back to his home.   
  
        In no time, Stan arrived in the clearing in front of his shack, driving his car a bit too far and almost crashing himself into a nearby spruce tree that shuddered in the violent wind. "Dipper!" He shouted out as he fled down the muddy path that once seemed so peaceful in the dappling sunlight.  
  
"Where is that kid?" Stan grumbled to himself as he squinted through his glasses that had begun to fill with rainwater, "Screw these!" He said as he removed his glasses in frustration which didn't seem to be doing much of their job covered in liquids that only blurred his sight.  
  
        Stan thanked God as his vision was impaired only slightly due to the fact that his vision was never really bad enough to need glasses, his family just forced him to get them when he was younger and he never got rid of them. Tucking them inside of a pocket that sat on the front of his jacket, Stan continued into the storm. As he began to approach the first sight he had selected to check, he heard a cracking noise that was all too familiar to him and a distinctly male shriek. " _Dipper!_ " All of the fear that Stan had not yet release came storming out of him, expelled in one shrill cry for his nephew.  
  
        Quickly following the shriek came a ground shaking crash that caused Stan to misplace a foot and slip in the mud, throwing him to the ground. With no care for himself, he rose and sprinted on despite the throb that echoed through his leg and arm that felt as if it had been twisted the wrong way. Laying just in front of him was a tree, splintered heavily at its base, right in the center of the path. Stan felt like he was choking as he slowly looked over the fallen object, searching for any sign of some pedestrian being crushed by it. A wave of relief passed over him as his skim over it showed no signs of victims.  
  
        Though...it was a relief that came too soon. As Stan approached the tree, he heaved himself over it, advancing on his search for his nephew. Once he landed on the other side, he noticed a familiar flash of blue just off to his right. Despite his urgent mission, curiosity got the better of Stanford Pines and he crouched down to examine the object.  
  
        The slight relief that had washed over Stan was instantaneously replaced with a devastating, crippling feeling of horror as he picked up the white and blue hat that belonged to Dipper.   
  
"No... _God, NO!"_


	21. A Night to Remember

        Blood...it was everywhere. Stan could feel his chest pounding, gradually tearing a heart-shaped hole through his rib cage. He could feel his fingers going numb as he dropped his nephew's cap, mud splattering as the object hit its surface. A small trail of blood ran from further down along the side of the log, trickling ever so slowly in his direction. "No...D-Dipper?" Stan began, now on his hands and knees crawling towards the source of the stream of the wet, sticky red liquid, "Please..."  
  
        As he approached the scene, the first thing that came into Stan's line of sight was the body of his nephew, lying as still as a corpse. " _Dipper!_ " Shouted the man as he rose to his feet and dashed over to the boy's side.  
  
        Tears welled in the man's eyes as he examined Dipper. His slightly moving chest explained that he was still alive, but the damage seemed to be rather intense. Though the boy had avoided being completely crushed by the tree, the lower half of his body had suffered the worst of the impact. The fallen body of the tree laid across both of his legs, covering everything from the calf down. Just as he opened his mouth only to repeat his nephew's name, Stan overheard a faint whisper to his left, "Dipper...?" The strained voice called out.  
  
        Though still heavily concerned, curiosity began to bubble in the pit of the man's stomach as he rose to examine who- or what, the noise had originated from. "God I'm so  _stupid_..." The voice came again, wavering with what sounded like a mixture of distress and anger.  
  
        Stan glanced around the edge of the tree to find yet another young boy, roughly the same age as Dipper, maybe a few years senior. He seemed to be crushed by the tree as well, yet not nearly as severe as the other victim. Only a single arm of his was confined by the object, almost up to his shoulder, therefore restricting him from sitting upwards or moving around whatsoever as to prevent further pain. "Wh-Who are you and why were you with my nephew?" Stan's curiosity spilled over as the question was uttered from his mouth.  
  
        The boy's body jerked upwards in surprise, but was yanked back down with a pained yelp as the enormous log pulled against his arm. "Who are- I can't...I can't see you..." He began to panic due to his lack of the upperhand.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
 _Screw this tree! Screw human bodies too! I could be completely fine if I wasn't trapped in this God-forsaken form!_ Fear began coursing through Bill's body as he squirmed around on the forest floor, trying to find some kind of stance in which to catch a glimpse at his possible attacker. Footsteps slowly approached him, crunching leaves and twigs beneath him, but also squelching in the excessive mud that covered the ground as well. "Who are you?" The man asked with more confidence and a stern tone as he looked down on Bill's face.  
  
"Oh thank God! Stan, I thought you were someone dangerous!" He sighed, clearly shocking the man who was taken aback as soon as his name was uttered.  
  
"How the hell do you know my name, boy?!" Stan almost shouted with such white hot anger, Bill could feel it seeping out of the man and practically setting the shrubbery on fire.  
  
        Bill went numb as he realized he had said Stan's name, pretty much blowing his cover. "I- uh...I didn't! I don't!" He responded in a nervous manner.  
  
        Just as Stan was about to bark out another question, he was once more silenced. "Stan?" Came the weak voice of Dipper.  
  
        The man abandoned his interrogation and ran to his nephew, fear returning yet again. "Stan...m-my legs..." The boy whimpered, now beginning to stir.  
  
"Don't move! I-I'll go call an ambulance!" Stan replied as he began sprinting back to the shack, silently cursing himself for not getting one of those new "cellular device" things that all the kids had nowadays.  
  
        After his great uncle left the scene, Dipper slowly positioned himself in a pained stance that allowed him a decent angle in which to look at Bill. As he began settling into his new position, Dipper winced in pain as he pulled at one of his legs. "I-I'm so sorry, Pine Tree..." Bill called out in a voice heavily laced with regret and speckled with pain.  
  
        Dipper opened his mouth, planning to say 'It's okay'...but he didn't. It wasn't okay. Bill had been blundering blindly through the forest despite the fact that Dipper had continuously warned him, and now, thanks to him, the two of them were crushed under the weight of a tree and left to lay in the mud as rain pelted them and the wind roared by. "Please say something..." Bill said, almost too quietly to hear over the storm.  
  
"Stan will be back soon... He said he was going to call for help." Dipper replied through clenched teeth as he tried adjusting his leg again.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Dammit, I don't  _care_  if you let people take the rest of the day off! Get them back and  _get your asses over here!"_  Stan shouted into the mouthpiece of his home phone, "A  _tree_  fell on my nephew and some other kid!"  
  
"Calm down sir, we have your address and we will try to get there as fast as we can! Just try to keep them from moving around too much and just...just distract them from any pain they may be experiencing until we can get there." The woman on the end of the phone was grasping for anything to tell Stan that might calm him down or just get him to focus on the important things.  
  
        With a frustrated grunt, the man slammed the phone back onto its receiver and began stomping for the door again. "Stan?" He halted as he heard the faint call of his niece, "What's the matter?"  
  
"There's...There was a bit of an accident." Stan's voice somehow miraculously calmed as he tried to tell Mabel accurate information without giving her enough reason to have a panic attack.  
  
        The eyes of the teenage girl narrowed and her eyebrows furrowed, "What happened?" She asked anxiously.  
  
        Stan could feel a slight panic rising in the pit of his stomach as he faced Mabel, "It's okay, it's all going to be fixed by morning. I'm just waiting for the ambulance to-" He tried.  
  
" _Ambulance?_ " She choked, grasping at the sleeves of her night shirt in order to occupy her hands with something.  
  
        Stan stood there, eyes darting to the left as he raked his mind for something else to say. His mouth hung opened, prepared to say the first lie that came to mind, but all that he was thinking about was reality. "Dipper..." Stan started again.  
  
"What about Dipper?!" Mabel demanded with more confidence and authority, now walking completely down the flight of stairs up to her great uncle.  
  
"There was just an accident in the forest!" The man blurted, unable to speak any of the details, for he couldn't even bear the thought of them.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
         _I knew I should've looked harder!_  Mabel yelled internally as she pulled on her shoes. "Mabel, I think you should wait until we get home from the-" Stan stood in front of her, trying to keep a strong tone.  
  
"Stan, I don't know what makes you think that I would stay here while I know Dipper is somewhere out there injured, but you're dead wrong either way." She stated with such certainty that it shocked her deep down that she had actually defied a direct command from Stan.  
  
        Although most adults would retaliate with some whole rational concept about not wanting the child to get hurt or see something that gruesome or whatever, Stan nodded and opened the front door, holding it open for his niece. As the two of them raced down the steps from the porch to the ground, Mabel inaudibly whispered, "It's okay Dipper...we're coming."


	22. Help is On The Way

        The faint screech of ambulance sirens slowly began to approach as Mabel and Stan hesitantly decided to return to the clearing in order to properly direct the medics. That horrid, vicious wind that had put poor Dipper and Bill in their current places gradually began to slow, reducing to short blasts that shoved forward various debris that had been unsettled earlier. With eyes wide with fear and a heart pounding like a hammer, Mabel looked up at Stan and began to form a question, but when she saw that he had her exact emotion plastered across his face, she only closed her mouth and looked down at her feet. "He's gonna be okay, Mabel." She felt a firm hand grasp her shoulder.  
  
        Looking back up at her uncle, Mabel gave him a forced, weak smile that practically screamed that she knew he was pulling the BS comfort-the-kid crap. "I know..." She replied meekly.  
  
        Finally, the government-paid, white van skidded dangerously fast around the turn onto Stan's property. As the vehicle came to a screeching stop, two men and a young woman flew from each exit of it, scurrying to Stan's side and awaiting further instructions. "It's about time you idiots got here!" Stan's cold and authoritative personality returned as he ushered the "incompetent fools" down the correct path.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Where is he?!" Bill hissed to the general audience of the forest.  
  
        Dipper knew that Bill would expect him to reply with some sort of assuring comment, but he was too focused with his attempt to relieve himself from even the slightest pain possible. He leaned forward, stabbing at the tree's carcass in a pathetic attempt to nudge it over. "It's pointless, Dipper!" He heard the other victim shout.  
  
"I don't care!" The boy responded as his aim began to worsen and his hands occasionally would miss the tree and he would end up clawing at his own leg.  
  
"Stop!" The voice came again as Dipper began to release a fresh stream of blood.  
  
"I said  _I don't care_!" Dipper turned to face Bill, yelling with all of his might.  
  
        It didn't matter anyways how often he missed or how awful it looked. Dipper's legs had already gone completely numb...he couldn't feel a thing. He sat there, staring at Bill...waiting for some kind of a response; but all he got was a heavily concerned and slightly frightened stare. "Well...we don't know when help will be coming and it's worth a try to get out from under this thing." Dipper reasoned with the startled boy.  
  
"No, look at yourself!" He responded, gesturing to Dipper's leg, "This isn't worth it, this isn't going to get it off of you, it's only making things worse!"  
  
`Dipper looked down on his legs and saw the oozing blood slowly drip down his limbs. Shaking his head, he finally cleared his mind and looked  upon himself as any sane person would, "Oh...that's a lot of blood." He mumbled.  
  
"Yeah, no kidding!" Bill huffed as he let himself slip from his strained, slightly pivoted upward position.  
  
        As Dipper's mind fully returned, the numbness in his legs began to fade and a throbbing bolt of agony shot up them, giving him a horrific sensation that Dipper had never experienced before. Almost immediately, his breath began to quicken and he felt an almost numbing dizziness envelope his head. "Bill..." He gasped.  
  
"Dipper?!" He replied in a surprisingly squeaky tone as Bill saw the reaction Dipper was beginning to have.  
  
"I...I think I can feel m-my legs now!" He puffed, trying his hardest to shove at the tree once again.  
  
         _Shit!_  Bill thought, taking his free arm and pushing against the restraining object as much as he could in an impossible attempt to help his friend. Dipper could feel his hands shaking violently, causing him to abandon his efforts. His vision began to blur as his body was utterly focused on withstanding the tremendous pain he was being put under. " _Help!_ " Bill began to shout for someone- anyone, "Someone please, help!"  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        As Stan trudged through the thick mud along the path to his nephew, he heard the same voice that had yelled when the tree came crashing down, the same voice that belonged to the mysterious boy that had accompanied Dipper in this accident. "Come on!" He called back to the medics, increasing his speed.  
  
        In just a few minutes, Stan arrived at the scene with the medics slowly following. The sight that presented itself to him was almost too much to handle. The boy with his arm caught under the tree was pushing with all of his might against it, groaning in agony with beads of sweat dripping down his face. Dipper...oh, Dipper...he was laying on his back, his body shaking, his eyes beginning to roll into the back of his head, and his breaths coming in fast and labored. "Oh my God..."Stan heard the man behind him gasp as he laid his eyes on the two of them.  
  
"Well, quit standing there and help me!" Stan shouted at the two, anger returning to his voice as he approached the tree's carcass, "Alright, I need you to put in all of your strength, no half-assing this! On the count of three..." The man took charge and ordered the two from the hospital after they had come to Stan's side and put themselves in a stance prepared to remove the object from the boys.  
  
"One..." He began.  
  
        Bill stopped to look at the new arrivals, confused at what they were actually preparing to do due to the fact that he had quit listening and had been focusing only on Dipper.  
  
"Two..."  
  
         _Wait...are they gonna..._  Bill's thought process began to run at full capacity.  
  
"Three!" The three adults began to push with all of their might, the body of the tree slowly rolling forward.  
  
        Bill was almost certain that this was the most pain he had ever been in as he began groaning and gasping for air. He began to feel as if he were the only thing that mattered until he heard Dipper. The boy let out a scream that was so blood curdling, it seemed almost too perfect for a horror movie. Dipper could almost swear he heard his own bones crunching underneath the slow, agonizing roll of the log; his body shooting upwards in an almost sitting position as if that might pull against the strong grip of pain. " _Stop_!" He shouted, feeling as if the world was crashing all around him.  
  
"We've almost got it! Keep going!" Stan shouted among the din.  
  
        Dipper could feel the last of the log rolling across his feet, flattening them to the forest floor and lasting for what seemed an eternity. That was the last straw. He let out one last scream that wasn't quite as strong as the last one, but still strong enough to break Bill's heart. As the tree rolled away, Dipper's upper body fell back to the ground, heaving in relief but still throbbing from the unimaginable experience. That was the last that he remembered. That was the last thing that happened before everything went white and his eyes rolled back into his skull as he lost consciousness.


	23. Comatose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geez I'm sorry...I'm new to being an all powerful dictator of characters' lives and I think it's going to my head...

         _Blip...Blip...Blip..._ The monotonous tone of the heart monitor steadily beeped as it read the heart rate of the comatose boy over, and over, and over again. The walls of the hospital were a light shade of gray, similar to that of clouds just minutes before a storm. The room that the small, unconscious Pines boy was being stored in was so small, the patient's bed and the two visitors' chairs were just barely able to fit inside. Residing in one of the chairs that had been pulled as close to the hospital bed as possible was a young, blond boy that looked as if his world had just come crashing down.  
  
        Day after day, nurses and doctors came in and out of the room, doing their routine checks of the patient. Each and every staff member had become quite accustomed to Bill, even some of the patients that were on the more adventurous side that decided to venture from their rooms every now and then. Despite the fact that they were all used to him and could recognize him from a mile away, not a single one of them knew his name nor had they ever heard his voice. Well, they had never heard his voice directed at them. Quite often, the boy was found muttering nonsense to himself as he cradled that Dipper Pines' hand, rocking back and forth with a quivering voice and red, puffy eyes.  
  
        There were others that came around routinely to visit the boy as well, but none of them ever went in if that blond haired boy was in there. An old man, a red-headed teenager, a larger, slightly hispanic man, and what appeared to be his twin. Sometimes they would come together, sometimes they would come alone, but not once were they ever found inside the room. They would leave behind flowers, stuffed animals, all kinds of assorted knick-knacks, but not a single one of them was delivered by its sender. It was always sent in by a nurse; it was always sent in by one that had enough courage to approach the stranger.  
  
        It seemed as though the darkness of night had fallen upon the Gravity Falls Memorial Hospital early this evening. As the sun fell, and the moon rose, shadows danced down the hallways and lingered in corners, twinkling stars shone surprisingly bright against the black, moonless night, and the only thing left to illuminate the general vicinity was a lamp that rested on top of the help desk just across the hall from the one hospital room who's door was never shut.  
  
"Dipper....Dipper I'm so sorry..." Bill began to cry once more into the lengthy night, "I was an idiot...P-Please...just come ba-ack to me..." His voice hitched as his throat began a war between trying to get out his words and trying to stop him from sobbing.  
  
        It was always at this time. Every single night, as soon as the hands of the clock had grazed eleven thirty, as soon as every patient was tucked away in their beds, as soon as the night guards had come to take over...that was when the boy's voice would begin to pour from the open doors, echo in the empty halls, and fill the ears of everyone listening.  _Every night_.  
  
        Bill sat as still as stone, staring at Dipper's face for any signs of acknowledgment. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Finally, as twenty minutes rounded, Bill sunk his head into his hands, letting his tears drip from his face and splash onto the surface of his jeans. How could he have let this happen? Due to Bill's...other-worldliness...as soon as he was freed from the grip of the fallen tree, he fled the scene and reverted to his true form, healing himself instantaneously seeing as he was practically an immortal, untouchable being of pure energy. Dipper on the other hand...well, Dipper was a human, and as much as he despised the world for it, humans don't recover as quickly.  
  
        He had never spoken a word to anyone other than Dipper during this time, but the doctors had spoken to him, though only medically or sympathetically. When he first arrived, they told him of the injuries Dipper had sustained. Then, they would tell him that he should eat something to keep from starving. Then they would tell him to go home and get some sleep. And now...now they just spoke behind his back with a violent fear of the unknown. Stupid humans. Idiotic, pitiful humans. They never understood...  
  
"It's all  _my fault_...I  _let_  this happen..." Bill continued to mutter, now grabbing fistfuls of his golden locks, slightly tugging at them.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .

**Four Days Ago**   
  


" _Where is he?!_ " Bill yanked at his hair as he yelled out his demanding question to the woman at the hospital's front desk.  
  
"Sir," She replied as calm as humanly possible, "As I told you before, I need you to elaborate, please."  
  
        Bill let out an aggravated huff of raging breath, " _Dipper Pines_." He grumbled through clenched teeth, "I need to see if he's okay."  
  
"Oh, that poor boy. I saw him come in, ya know. He looked absolutely awful...poor thing." She replied in a gossipy tone.  
  
        Clearly, this young woman had been deprived of her daily gossip circle with her "girl friends", but Bill didn't have a care in the world. "Do you think this is some kind of  _joke_?!" He placed the shaking palms of his hands gently on top of the front desk as rage seeped from his mouth in a building cloud of tension.  
  
"Hon, I work at a hospital. If I wanted some jokes, I woulda' taken a job at the ' _Pun Hut_ '. Sadly, they didn't have any openings..." The lady replied, obviously not realizing the graveness of the situation.  
  
"I've had it with you." Bill shoved himself away by pushing on the table, "I'll find him myself."  
  
"Sir!  _Sir_!" The woman called after him as he began walking away, "You can't go back there without permission!" She called after him, standing up to shuffle over to him in an attempt to stop him.  
  
        The boy suddenly stopped in his determined tracks, stood on one heel, and spun around to face the woman from the front desk, "Then do you plan on helping me  _find him_  instead of trying to have a  _gossip session_?"  
  
"Well you don't have to be so rude..." She grumbled, crossing her arms and making a pout with her fat bottom lip stuck out as if she was begging for an apology.  
  
        Bill shook his head in disbelief as he scoffed at her, biting his bottom lip momentarily to keep from bearing his teeth. "You listen here you  _dense bitch_..." He began, leaning in on her, "My...friend..." He hesitated slightly, "could be dying at  _this very minute_. I'm sorry for not wanting to sit here and  _chat_ with someone a  _despicable_  as yourself, but I would very much like to see if he is  _still breathing_!"  
  
. . . . . . . . . .

**The Present**   
  


        Bill opened his eyes squinting at the painful rays of sunshine peeking through a small window that a nurse had opened, most likely early that morning. The boy let out a soft growl as he pealed his face from Dipper's bed, rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to rid himself of the pain from sleeping in such an awful manner. As he rose to close the godforsaken window, Bill let out a gaping yawn while at the same time taking into consideration that he didn't recall ever falling asleep the previous night.  
  
"If you want, I could pull an extra cot in here for ya...since ya been sleepin' here so much lately." A feminine voice heavily coated in a Boston accent came from the doorway.  
        The boy glanced briefly at the stranger with eyes so cold they could cause frostbite. "Yah, okay. I'll bring it in." She scoffed, turning to continue walking down the hall, her large hips swinging rhythmically to and fro.  
  
        Bill stood there staring at the doorway in a slight confusion. No one ever talked to him, much less offered to do anything for him. Running his fingers through the strands of his hair once more, he shuffled back to his chair and collapsed into it yet again. This new girl was...different. Maybe a good different...  
  
. . . . . . . . . .

**Four Days Ago**   
  


        Sharp, agonizing bolts shot through his leg, each time causing Dipper to release another groan. It was so painful, he  _would've_  been screaming, but his throat had gone raw from the hour and a half that he had already wasted on it. "Where's Bill..." He almost inaudibly heaved out of his vocal chords.  
  
"J-Just sit still, Dipper. We're almost at the hospital." His uncle, who was brimming with tears and fear, silenced him without even bothering to listen in on the last words he would hear from his nephew in what would seem like lifetimes.  
  
        Dipper was laying on his back on top of a rolling cot that was stored in the surprisingly large ambulance. As the boy looked up, he saw an IV bag swinging wildly as the vehicle sped down bumpy roads, wailing like an upset child with its sirens. Where had Bill gone? Why wasn't he here? Suddenly, Dipper's legs didn't seem to be the part of his body that hurt the most. Just as he began to settle on his aching heart, another wave of pain flooded over his body, this time earning a strained gasp.  
  
        Dipper assumed that this string of cramping, dagger-like pains would be just like the previous ones, but he was wrong. The pain continued on, and on, for minutes that seemed more like hours. "H-Help...It hu-urts r _eally_ bad." The boy's voice came in labored breathing.  
  
        Stan looked upon his nephew's face and began to go into a panic, alerting the medic that sat in the corner of the van that hadn't been paying attention. Almost instantly, the pain began to digress and Dipper sighed in relief, glad that the spontaneous pain had dissipated, but once more, it was too soon for relief. His breath was now violently hitching, his chest leaping upwards in panic. His eyes grew wide and were focused on the ceiling as Dipper screamed on the inside while the control of his own body was being pried from his cold fingers. "What's happening!" Stan screamed at the medic.  
  
"He's lost too much blood! He's going into shock!" The man replied, flailing along the makeshift table to the right of Dipper's bed for supplies.  
  
        The boy tried with all of his might to regain control, but the only thing that seemed to be happening was rapid loss of strength and energy. "Why is he having a seizure?!" Stan yelled again.  
  
        He vaguely felt something prick his arm, but Dipper continued in his spasm. Soon, his strength had been completely drained and a familiar sensation began to trickle down his limbs and throughout his brain. Blurring, fading...it was happening all over again. As he came to the realization, the boy struggled to keep conscious, but fate had won once again. Everything went white, and Dipper would not be waking for a long...long time.


	24. Curiosity Killed the Triangle

        Days...Weeks...Months...Time no longer mattered. Everything just seemed so...irrelevant now. Day after day, it was all just like a routine. No new information. No progress. Nothing. Simply waiting, everlasting, eternal waiting. But none of it mattered to Bill. He planned to wait forever if that was what it would take just to hear his name on his one true love's lips just once more.  
  
"...sir. Sir.  _Sir!_ " Bill came back to earth to find a man in a white lab coat, presumably a doctor, standing before him, shaking his shoulders.  
  
        The haze over his eyes lifted and Bill looked back into the man's eyes in acknowledgement. The doctor stood up, straightened the red and white plaid tie that lie beneath his coat, and cleared his throat. "We regret to inform you sir," He began hesitantly, "but...with no indications of any sorts of progress after this extended period of time, we are forced to remove this patient from life support."  
  
        This news hit the unresponsive boy like a freight train, sending his mind into a spiraling daze and giving off the feeling of his chest imploding upon itself. "...no..." Bill whispered.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
" _No!_ " Bill stood from the chair and shouted, startling the doctor that had never seen this boy act out with such anger.  
  
        Bill could feel all of his blood rushing to his head. He could feel his heart rate quicken and pound against the cage that his bones created. He could feel everything. "Do  _not_ kill him!"  
  
"W-We aren't killing him, sir. We are simply removing the tubes." The shivering man tried to defend his actions.  
  
" _If you so much as touch him,_ " Bill began to advance upon the doctor with steaming rage seeping from every pore upon his body, " _I can personally gaurentee that you will not live to see the next sunrise._ "  
  
"I- We... I-It's been two months, s-sir." The man stammered, quaking in fear as Bill rose to surprising heights that surpassed the unusually small, British doctor.  
  
"I don't care if it takes  _years_! You  _will not kill him_!" His last sentence sent the small man waddling at the fastest pace he could manage to escape.  
  
        This couldn't be happening... Dipper was supposed to get better, he was supposed to wake up. What was the matter?  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Stan?" Mabel quietly approached her great uncle.  
  
        The man was sitting, hunched over at the round, wooden table that resided just to the left of their cozy, little living room. After the accident, and the coma...Stan blamed himself for everything that happened. Whatever anyone did or said it wouldn't change his mind. Over the past month and a half, Stan had taken an interest in the liquor cabinet that used to always remain under heavy lock and key, but now was never closed. After two weeks of nothing but silence from his nephew, Stan stopped visiting altogether. He staggered around the home in a grumbling state of drunkenness, never leaving the house, never going to work, never speaking to anyone.  
  
"Grunkle Stan?" Mabel tried again, this time inching a bit forward and speaking a little bit louder.  
  
        The loud, surprising moan that escaped the man's mouth startled her, but did not discourage her nor give her reason to abandon her efforts to contact her distant uncle. "Stan...a-are you okay?" She stepped forward, almost an arm's-length from him.  
  
"None of it matters anymore..." The old drunk blubbered, resting his head upon the cool oak table.  
  
"What do you mean? Dipper will get better." Mabel tried to reassure him, placing a hesitant hand on his shoulder in empathy.  
  
" _No he won't!_ " Stan roared to life, throwing the girl's hand from his shoulder and shoving himself up onto his legs, "It's been two months and there isn't any sign of improvement! They're going to  _pull the plug_  on him!" As he hysterically babbled on, the heavy scent of alcohol that was sent rapidly into the nostrils of Mabel made her cringe and slightly pull away.  
  
"We can convince them not to!" She shoved her comment into her uncle's monologue.  
  
        The man stared at his niece and scoffed, starting to chuckle bitterly, "Even if we could convince them, we don't have the money."  
  
 "Well...We could..." The gears in Mabel's mind grinded rapidly, trying to create an idea that wouldn't seem useless.  
  
"We can't do anything. Nothing matter's anymore...not with him gone." Stan sunk back into his chair, taking another swig from his bottle of vodka.  
  
        Mabel felt her heart squirming around her chest with a plethora of emotions that were dying to be released, but she knew that if she voiced each and every one of them, it would put both of them into an even worse mood than they were already in. So to sum it all up, all she found herself saying was: "I-I'm still here..." In a wavering, bitter-sweet voice.  
  
"But your brother's as good as dead." Stan admitted through clenched teeth.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
         _What do I do? What do I do?_ Bill was now pacing around the small hospital room, trying to figure out a way to revive Dipper in enough time to avoid the employees from taking him off of life support. "Yes, I can heal myself at an impressive speed, but I'm completely useless in matters like this!" He scolded himself, repeatedly pounding the palm of his hand on his forehead to try and induce a train of thought.  
  
        Then...it struck him. " _No!_  No, I couldn't do  _that_  to him again...not again." The boy plopped down in the hospital chair, staring desperately at his comatose friend, "But...it is a guaranteed method..."  
  
        Though it was something that he would not have liked to admit to, Bill's mind was already almost completely made up. He was going to do it, whether or not it would turn out to be the best option. He was going to have to posses the boy once again.  
  
        Whilst taking a deep, shuddering breath, Bill rose to his feet and leaned over the hospital bed. "Please...forgive me, Pine Tree..." He whispered into Dipper's ear, laying a hand gently on his cheek.  
  
        Wind began to rattle the frail windows on the wall of the room, lights began to flicker, and there seemed to be some sort of ominous gust of wind originating from inside of the building. Bill steadied his breath, straightened his posture, and allowed his arms to fall to his side, letting down all of his defenses and becoming utterly vulnerable in order to prepare for things unusual ritual. He was going to have to find some way of getting inside of Dipper's mind, being able to control him, and still be able to harbor the boy's spirit within his own body to heal him. Though it may seem easy considering he had done something very similar to this previously, there was one trivial part that would turn out to play a rather large role in the whole scheme of things: Bill had to receive Dipper's consent.  
  
        Bill closed his eyes and cleared his mind, allowing his senses to go numb. The part where he had to penetrate the mind of his subject now seemed so simple, like such child's play. Without any trouble, he soon found himself once more inside the mind of one Dipper Pines. Bill allowed himself to pause, allowed himself to adjust to his new surroundings, and, as always, transform into his more common, triangular state. As soon as he opened his eye, Bill knew something was wrong, aside from the obvious.  
  
"Dipper?" He called out, hovering around the new mindscape that was laid before him.  
  
        Unlike the last time he had been inside of the boy's mind, everything seemed so unorganized with various memories floating around, swirling gusts of wind becoming miniature tornadoes in some places, and a throbbing that seemed to engulf Dipper's entire mind. "Wh-Where are you?!" He called out for the boy again above all of the din.  
  
        Despite the fact that he was still determined, Bill slightly hesitated to move onward. Things began to intensify as he delved deeper into the mind, but Bill could feel that he was getting closer. Just in the corner of his senses, he could hear a soft mumbling off to his distant right. With a new peaked curiosity, Bill rerouted his trail to include the new, undetermined location. As he flew forward, the mumbling grew louder and Bill could begin to make words out of the jibberish. "Alone...so alone....Why? Mph- I....miss him...not real... _lies_..."  
  
        The voice that had sounded so insane and out of touch with reality was, to Bill's horror, becoming distinctly Dipper-like. He slowly came to a corner in the delusional mind-hallway and stopped. Should he dare look? Cautiously, the demon pulled his head around the edge just enough to catch a glimpse of what lie ahead. What Bill witnessed was enough to make him cry, but for his own sake, he held it together and only let a shivering gasp escape his lips.  
  
        He had located the boy that had fallen so deep inside of his mind that it seemed irreversible, and now came the hard part. Making contact with him.


	25. A Round Room of Horrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lil' warning ahead of time...this might be a bit sad. Grab a tissue and your comfiest PJs...'cause shit's 'bout to go down.  
> (Also, if anyone wants to give me any feedback on my story, please go to this thingy/link/whatever: http://www.quotev.com/quiz/6058501/CoTM-Opinions/ )

  
**Day One...**

"Wh-Where am I?" Dipper mumbled as he woke to an assortment of crude, nausea-inducing colors.  
          
        The boy slowly lifted himself to his feet, wobbling momentarily as he tried to steady himself on what felt like a ground, but was merely his mindscape. He looked around, but noticed nothing other than the obvious factor that had already made itself evident with its afflictive nature: He was alone...again.  
  
"Bill?" Dipper began to call out, wandering around the spherical color wheel he seemed to be trapped inside of.  
  
         As he continued onward, the room began to move with his motions; rolling to the left as he took a few steps in that direction, and the same if he moved to the right, or any other direction.  _Great,_  He thought,  _It's like a giant freaking hamster ball!_

  
**Day Two...**

        Over the twenty-four hours that the Pines boy had now been trapped inside of his own mind, he had come to learn a few very important things. One,  _DON'T TRY RUNNING IN THE BIG HAMSTER BALL_! There is just too much behind that to get into it, but let's just say it's not so fun when you want to stop but Issac Newton's law of inertia says otherwise. Two, since it is a mindscape, you think it, it happens. After sitting for a few hours, wondering what to do in this psychedelic hell, Dipper finally decided to try doing something from the inside of his head. And, whadduyaknow! If you try to control you mind,  _with your mind,_  it tends to work! And finally, don't think of things you can't have. Don't think of Mabel or Stan...Wendy, Soos, Waddles...and...don't think of Bill.

 

  
**Day Seven...**

        By now, Dipper had practically mastered the art of summoning things within the mindscape. He didn't even have to use a lot of mental strength anymore. Just wish for a burger, per say, and poof, it materializes in your hand. The food was great, he never needed to sleep, and he could make anything happen with just the snap of his fingers. Then...why did he feel so empty inside?  
          
        He had the ability to summon any of his friends. Albeit, they weren't the real thing; they were all just figments of his imagination. You'd think if Dipper had all of this and almost exact replicas of anyone he wanted, he would pretty much be in paradise. But...it was all just starting to feel like some sort of twisted hell.

  
**Day Fifteen...**

        Dipper could never quite be sure what time- or even what day, really- it was anymore. He stopped summoning food; he couldn't stomach any of the delicious morsels anymore knowing that none of it was real. Just thinking of anyone, Bill more than ever, sent his head spinning. He would start off with a few tears, mourning the fact that he couldn't see them, nor did he know where they were. Next, he would start hyperventilating; worrying that they had forgotten about him or that they would never find him. And finally, the boy would become as cold as stone; accepting the fate that he had decided for himself. No one would come for him. No one cared anymore. He was all alone in his prison, left to die and rot while everyone else enjoys the rest of their mortal lives.  
  


  
**Day Twenty Five...**

        Dipper spent the majority of his time in the fetal position, rocking himself back and forth. His mood tended to affect the colors within his mind, so as time went on and he fell deeper into himself, allowing his madness to consume him, the once colorful, acid-like environment now consisted of dark shades of blue, purple, and black.

        The boy had utterly convinced every part of his being that no one cared for him anymore and this was the fate that he was doomed to live out for eternity. The pain that he used to feel when he thought of his loved ones had dissipated and was replaced with a feeling that, in all honesty, scared the very last sliver of humanity he had remaining. Dipper only felt a numb nothingness. He felt nothing when the thought of his family or friends rose from the depths of his mind. In fact, it seemed to be happening less and less, allowing him to, at times, forget their existence completely. But Bill...Bill was different. Dipper still had a strong yearning... a-a craving, for the demon. It was almost...envious, somehow.

        Many days, Dipper spent longing for his more-than-a-friend. Many days, he would muster up the courage to form a figment of him just long enough to gaze into his warm, loving eyes before he lost control of his emotions. And eventually...Dipper came to hate himself for this. He hated that Bill was the only one he ever thought about anymore. He hated that he knew there was a small chance he would ever see Bill in the flesh again. He...he hated that he knew Bill had the power to enter one's mind...but hadn't come for him yet. He simply hated.

  
**Present Day...  
**   


  
_"Why do I love him?!"_ Dipper shouted into the unresponsive emptiness of his mind, "He's gone, he's not coming for me,  _I'm all alone!_  But...I love him..."

        Engulfed in a raging war of emotions, Dipper's current mindscape was in turmoil; rapidly spinning around to accommodate the boy's state of mind, violently throbbing like a bulging vein with the pressure he was under, and abruptly flashing through different shades of different colors that represented the emotions at war. Dipper had been trying to come to terms with his solitude for the past week, but something inside him, a memory of what he once was, maybe, kept him from altogether shutting down his heart's instincts. And worst of all through this skirmish, the part of him that still wanted to believe had been playing tricks on him.

        Just as he felt he had come to an ultimate decision, the losing side would materialize a figment of Bill, persuading his opinion to the other side. Whether it was that Dipper had decided to shut out his memories and forget everyone, or he settled on holding out for a while longer, Bill was there. But nowadays, Bill was always there. Reminding him. Tempting him. Tormenting him.

"Just  _go away_!" Dipper shouted, falling to his knees and barricading his vision with the palms of his quivering hands, "I can't...I can't do this anymore. I just c _an't_." He whimpered.

"Dipper?" The faint, terrified sound of Bill's voice floated around his head.

        As his name hit his ears and his brain registered the sound waves, Dipper's head shot up, desperately scanning the perimeter for his missing triangle. " _It had to be him,_ " Dipper thought, " _The illusions have never spoken...not ever..._ "

        Finally, Dipper's line of sight landed on a floating figure, lying just in the doorway of the corridor out of the "Round Room", as he had come to call it.

" _Bill?_ "


	26. Tidal Waves and Short Visits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dost thou wish for a tissue?  
> (Also, go check out this poll I made, be an awesomely radical person and give me feedback on this story!!!)  
> http://www.quotev.com/quiz/6058501/CoTM-Opinions/

"Dammit, where'd the vodka go?" Stan slurred as he knelt down onto his knees, riffling through what was left of the liquor cabinet.  
  
"You drank it, Stan. You've practically drank everything we have!" Mabel groaned at her, at this point, unbearable excuse of an uncle.  
  
"Well," The man paused to let an interrupting hiccup fly from his mouth, "Ex-ca- _yoos_  me! Miss perfect poster child over here thinks she's so...perfect!" Stan drunkenly defended his state.  
  
        Mabel rose from the yellow couch that now had numerous signs of recent moments where various liquids had been spilled on it- all of them alcoholic. She huffed out a growl of a response, inaudible to the average ear, and stomped across the room towards the front door. "Hey! Where d'ya think you're going?" The drunkard shouted as he glared at his defiant niece.  
  
"I'm going to see Dipper!" She retorted, tears in her eyes as she accepted the fact that this would probably be the last time she would see her beloved brother.  
  
        No more would people know her as "one of the twins", no more would she have someone that knew almost exactly what she went though, no more would she have a brother to love. She would be all alone.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Bill? Where have you been?" Dipper called out to the hesitant mind demon.  
  
        The boy had been approaching Bill in a rapid, excitement-filled manner; but stopped dead in his tracks. His head was still spinning from the insanity he had been putting himself through. "Why di...Why didn't you come for me sooner?" Dipper murmured, running his hand up and down repeatedly against the crook of his neck.  
  
        Bill stood in silence, ever so slowly drifting towards the clearly deranged Pines boy. "Why, Bill?" Dipper asked again, this time his voice wavered in a frighteningly emotional tone, his cheeks began to redden, and his eyes glazed over as if he had completely zoned out.  
  
"I tried." Bill lied, unable to find a single believable reason as to why he hadn't thought to come to his love's rescue, "I just...I couldn't."  
  
        Was it because Bill was too weak? Maybe it was the fact that he didn't want to risk blowing his cover that Dipper had so desperately tried to keep undercover. Or maybe...maybe it was what Bill knew that he feared deep down. Maybe he was simply too terrified to see what the mindscape had turned his beloved Pine Tree into. When Dipper refused to respond, Bill rapidly flew to the boy's side, reaching his arms out in a warm embrace; but to his horror, Dipper turned his shoulder up, clearly rejecting Bill's display of affection.  
  
"Dipper..."He sighed, careful of how he would plan out his next words, "I'm here to take you home."  
  
        Dipper took in an extended breath that shook his body just so slightly enough to be noticeable. " _Why_?" He breathed, "Why  _now_ , Bill? Didn't you want to get me anytime sooner?"  
  
        Bill could sense that he was now on thin ice with the mentally disturbed boy, "O-Of course I did!" He blurted out before Dipper could even finish the last word of his question, "I missed you so much! Why would I wait any longer than I had to to come get the only human worth anything?"  
  
"Fair point," Dipper shrugged, seeming to come back to his senses, at least partially...  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Yeah, hi. I'm here to see my brother, Dipper Pines?" Mabel patiently waited as she spoke with the woman at the front desk of the hospital.  
  
        It had been a bit of an embarrassing encounter, but Mabel had called up Wendy, asking her if she would drive her to the hospital. As bold as the red-headed teen usually was, Wendy was exceptionally understanding on this occasion. Maybe it was because she, too, was in a solemn mood due to the incident. Maybe it was because she knew how unreasonable and unrealistic Stan could become at times. Or maybe it was just because she cared. Either way, Wendy asked no questions, and when Mabel requested that she let her do this on her own, Wendy respected her answer and put her pick-up truck in park as she waited in the hospital parking lot.  
  
"Let me check the databases real quick, hun." The woman replied, forcing a polite smile that was so transparent, she could've been a ghost, "Yeah, he's on the second floor, room 208." She replied after a few minutes of excruciatingly prolonged skimming.  
  
"Thanks." Mabel briefly uttered, making a hasty retreat for her brother's room.  
  
        As the girl stepped into the roomy, empty elevator just ahead of her, she took a deep breath, and let it out in a jagged sigh. With a somewhat hesitant motion, Mabel placed her thumb directly in the center of the circular button labeled "2", illuminating the previously cream colored shape. The reflective sliding doors lazily came to a close, signaling the oncoming ascent to the second floor. As the girl waited, she stared at her reflection ahead of her, taking a vain glance at her current state. In a quick act, she gently pushed her hazel hair behind her ears, exposing her flushed skin even further. Not long later, a soft  _ding_  alerted Mabel of her arrival at the second floor.  
  
        With a confident step, she strode down the new hallway, making a left turn as she counted the escalating numbers labeling the doors.  _206...207...208._ She had come to her ailing brother's door. It was now or never.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
         _Cheer up, you idiot!_  Dipper inwardly yelled at himself. Bill had come for him, he was going to go home...so why was there a nagging pull in his heart that told him he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon?  
  
"I-I'm so sorry I couldn't come sooner." Bill whispered, breaking the slightly awkward silence as he spoke.  
  
        With a somewhat forced grin, Dipper replied, "You're here now, and we can both leave." He slid his hand into the clenched fist that Bill's hand had been at the boy's side, intertwining their fingers and leaving just enough space for him to slide his thumb out of the twist to softly stroke it against the side of Bill's nervous, shaking hands, "Why so nervous, anyways?" He had come to a makeshift equilibrium on the inside, at this point.  
  
"I just don't know... I don't know how all of this is actually working right now." Bill admitted, shaking his sweat-beaded, contorted with stress, head.  
  
        The two of them were turning onto the path of Dipper's mindscape that lead out to the real world, simultaneously conversing about the last few weeks. Dipper had reassured Bill that none of this was his fault, and Bill had tried to explain that that wasn't the reason for his fear. "No, Dipper, I've never done something like this before. I mean- I've been inside of people's heads...but I've never tried to pull them out of a coma."  
  
"A  _coma_?!" Dipper cut off the other boy, "What do you mean a coma? Is that what trapped me in here to begin with?"  
  
"Well, yeah. How did you think you got stuck in here otherwise?"  
  
"I...I never really thought of it, to be honest." Dipper breathed, planting his free hand on the center of his forehead to express his embarassment in his ignorance.  
  
        Bill smiled at him, remembering just how much this adorkable, puny human actually meant to him. They quickly came to the end of the path, staring straight into a swirling vortex, rapidly claiming their attention and drawing them into the blue, misty abyss. "Okay, here's our way out." Bill explained, giving a gentle tug to Dipper's arm.  
  
        The Pines boy stepped forward, absolutely delighted to be able to escape the terrorizing grasp of his own mind at last. Together, the boys tightened their grip on each other's hand, silently willed the other on, and stepped into the portal.  
  
        Bill let out a sharp gasp as he felt a stinging, dagger-like feeling shoot through the arm that held Dipper's.  _No!_  The demon grasped the boy's hand as if it were the only thing between life and death for him, pulling against the mystical current. "Dipper, NO!" He shouted as he felt the boy's hand being ripped from his.  
  
        Panic raised like a tidal wave through Bill's entire body, suffocating him as if he were lost at sea. He felt his cheeks redden, his body shaking, felt the tears welling up in his eyes, and he let them fall. How could he not have made it? Was he still in the mindscape? Wh- Wait, where was  _Bill_? The boy let out a sob, looking frantically around as he saw that he was not in the mindscape, nor was he returned to the real world. He was...somewhere in between. He was everywhere, yet nowhere.


	27. Ignorant Hatred

        The bottom of the bottle is the only place he seemed to find the courage and willpower to live lately. Vodka, tequila, just any form of alcohol to drown out his roaring losses. Stanford Pines trudged lazily into the kitchen, glancing out the dust covered window at the forest that lie just ahead. Slowly, he approached the window, leaning against the wall just to its left and letting out a shaky sigh.  _"What am I becoming?"_  He thought to himself, pressing his face against the intricate, stained glass surface, letting out a puff of breath that fogged up his side of the window, the frigidness of the outdoors chilling the inside of the shack.  
  
 _"It really is all my fault...isn't it?"_  The self-deprecating thought swirled around the man's head, shoving what was left of his broken heart further down into the abyss of his chest.  
  
        In all reality, whether this escapade was entirely, or even partially, Stan's fault was a frequent and valid argument that enveloped his mind often. No, he could never have predicted that his nephew would've found some kid out in the forest or...wherever or whenever it was that Dipper met him. This being the case, that he was completely unaware of the other, there was no logical way that Stan could've prevented what happened. At least...that would be the case for an average caretaker.  
  
        First of all, Stan never actually spent even half of his time above his secret, sub-level floor. He had been obsessing over...a great variety of ordeals, and the safety and security of his niece and nephew seemed to have slipped off of the list of importance.  _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_ The man softly and repeatedly thumped his head against the dull, wallpapered surface, causing even more pain to his head, which was now in a constant state of grieving and hangover.  
  
        Stan turned his back to the wall, leaning against it with much of his weight, and slid down to the floor. He dragged his knees to his chest and laid his chin between them, shuddering as a wave of soberness briefly passed through. Looking down at his fist, Stan saw the empty bottle of tequila that he had been carrying around for days, despite the uselessness of it. As he glanced down at the reason for his sober moment, he noticed callouses, scabs, and cuts running along each and every one of his knuckles. The man took his roughened hands and placed his face into them, letting out a sob that had been repressed for far too long.  _"If I had just listened to him...Dipper wouldn't being dying."_  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Dipper!" Bill called out as he slammed his fists against a solid, white wall that had replaced the enticing portal that had once been.  
  
"You're never going to see him if you do it that way." A raspy, critical voice echoed from behind the desperate demon.  
  
        Bill rapidly turned his torso to face the origin of the new voice. Before him stood a hunch-backed, lanky form of demon that somewhat resembled a human in his shape. He possessed all four limbs, though his ears were pointed like an elf's, sprouting from behind him lay a tail that held spikes that ran all the way up his back, and on each of his toes and fingers laid razer-like claws. "Who  _are_ you?" Bill questioned, rising to his feet to face his assumed enemy.  
  
"I'm the ghost of Christmas past!" The unidentified creature huffed sarcastically, "Seriously, what are they teaching you kids these days?! I'm a Mårt!" He pouted, as if sincerely offended.  
  
"A  _Mårt_? A-And what do you mean  _kid_? I'm an immortal mind demon that's been around for centuries." Bill defended his kind.  
  
        The new creature sputtered and laughed, cackling like a witch. When he had finished, he raised a finger to an eye to wipe away a tear. "Gee, you really  _don't_  know anything about your history!" Then, he seemed to sober up, "But I am a little hurt, Mr. Cipher." He added in a mocking pout.  
  
"What do you know about  _me_?" Bill questioned, chills running up his back as his opponent apparently knew him, and was also much more experienced in...well, with the way he talks, everything.  
  
"Just about everything, kid."  
  
"And why do you keep calling me a kid?! I'm a hell of a lot older than almost all of those other myths!" Bill retorted, feeling like a child once more, playing a game of cat and mouse with an irritatingly informed cat.  
  
"Yes,  _almost_  all. I'm that almost." The creature responded, beginning to creep slowly toward Bill, clearly tired of simply standing whilst having a slow conversation with an uninteresting recipient.  
  
"As I asked before, who are you?"  
  
"It's pretty personal, plus, it would give away the plot!"  
  
"What?" Bill questioned, "You- You're referring to life as a story?" Anger gurgled at the bottom of his voice, blatantly peeved at the careless and sarcastic nature of this new demon.  
  
                Indeed, he was. "For now, you could just call me ' _The Nightmare_ '! No, wait, that makes me sound to cheesy... How about...- you know, my friends gave me a nickname centuries ago, why don't you just use that?" He gave up on his creative spin, "Albiet, it sounds really ironic right now, I suppose it'll make sense later." He rambled on, slightly under his breath but just loud enough for Bill to hear, "The name's Mort."  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Dipper?" Mabel softly cooed as she peeked through the door to her brother's room, "Dipper, I came to-" What lay before her silenced her.  
  
        In front of Mabel was her brother...but it wasn't just her brother. Dipper lie on the hospital bed, his body lightly shaking, as if he were having internal convulsions and strokes, breathy groans escaping his mouth every now and then. " _Dipper!_ " Her voice cracked as she fled to her twin's side.  
  
        The girl leaned over the bed, pressing her hand against Dipper's face as she felt for a fever. Mabel lightly gasped, her hand rapidly retreating as her skin made a quiet sizzle against his other-worldly temperature. A thought flashed through her mind momentarily and Mabel shuddered, not wanting to even consider this possibility.  _What if he had been possessed again?_ She reached for her brother's face once more, this time though, she laid her hands gently across his eyes. Beneath her fingers, Mabel could feel his eyes frantically dashing from side to side, as one would in an intense dream. With fear creeping through her entire being, she slowly pushed upwards against his eyelid, revealing his eyes. At this, she jumped backwards, horrified at what she saw. Dipper's eyes seemed to constantly change colors; one moment they would be a bright, glowing yellow, then they would transition into a terrifying psychedelic, acid trip-like variety of color, then they would momentarily be his, but only for a short second. At this point, she began to hyperventilate as she desperately tried to think of what to do. "I can't do this myself, I don't know anything about...this!" She thought aloud, "But...the doctors wouldn't know what to do either..."  
  
"Dipper!" She called out again, grasping her brothers shuddering shoulders and shaking them enough to wake up a normal person, but not injure him, "Wake  _up_!" She demanded.  
  
        It was only then that she realized an obvious piece of evidence laying just on the other side of her brother's bed. It was that boy; the one with the yellow hoodie that, for some reason, always seemed so vaguely familiar. The one that gave Mabel that creeping suspicion that she should recognize him. And that was when it hit her.  
  
        All of this s _neaking around_. The  _shame_  Dipper seemed to feel when she figured out he was in a relationship. The signs of  _possession_! It was  _Bill_  all over again! "Jesus, why didn't I see this before?!" She smacked herself on her forehead with the palm of her hand, making situations even worse than they had already been.  
  
        The small, teen girl began to gurgle with white hot rage that seemed to ooze out of every orifice on her body, creating a dense, terrifying atmosphere within the small room. Her ignorance only fueled her anger further. She began to list everything that had happened since  _Bill_  had come along, concluding with her limited knowledge that this all had to have been his fault.  
  
        Fuming, the girl sat down, as she did not know what to do beyond this point. All of this fear, rage, and confusion was clouding any and all thoughts and judgement. With her head between her hands, she looked up, glaring at the empty body of the Pines twins' dreaded mind demon.  
  
She was told to hate, and therefore, she did.


	28. Breaking the Fourth Wall

        A silent scream floated from Dipper's mouth as he yanked his hand back from the portal. Instantaneously, once his hand had been freed, the once beautiful and mesmerizing means of escape shrunk until it was non-existent. He held his aching limb in the other, softly rubbing the reddened wrist that felt as if he had just received a severe case of rug burn. Dipper could feel his throat begin to tighten, reducing his oxygen intake and creating turmoil within the pit of his churning stomach.  
  
"Shit, okay, just...just stay calm." The boy whispered to himself in a voice that faltered with fear and a daunting thought that he would never be able to escape his own mind.  
  
        Dipper closed his eyes, pushed his back firmly against the surface that Bill had disappeared through, and sunk to the floor; grasping his knees and holding himself in a shivering fetal position on the cold ground. His own imagination had held him captive and now only taunted him with hopes and glimpses of freedom and those he cared about. The boy's face began to flush, warming as the light hue spread. His eyes felt heavy and tears began to push against his eyelids. Just as a single tear slid down his soft cheek, Dipper heard a clattering noise off to his  distant right, sounding as if someone had just dropped a plethora of pots and pans.  
  
        Dipper sat upright, running his hands along his eyes to wipe them of as much evidence as possible. "Hello, i-is someone there?" He faintly called out, fearing that something might actually answer and at the same time inwardly scolding himself for taking part in the oldest known stupidity of horror movies.  
  
"Hey!" A voice without representation responded, "I'm in the kitchen, want a sandwich?"  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        Mabel sat in the chair  beside Dipper's  bed, viciously rubbing her hands over one another and invoking thoughts of fury, sorrow, regret, and an abundance of similar emotions. On one hand, she wanted to drag the body that that demon had been possessing and throw it onto the asphalt on the highway. Then on the other, she had a much more civilized rational and opposing views. If Dipper had trusted him this far and at this point, he was still  _technically_  breathing, then maybe Bill had changed for the better. It was a possibility, she told herself, but what if he's just pulling over a big con?  
  
"Hey, it's nice to see that someone else knew the kid!" A voice heavily coated in a Boston accent called out cheerfully.  
  
        Mabel turned to face the door, surprised to find a nurse leaning in. "Uh, yeah. I-I'm his sister." She called back hesitantly as she tried to regain her happy self and push the thought of Bill to the side of her mind.  
  
"I can tell, you two look so alike. Twins, I assume? Mind if I sit?" She asked, gesturing to the chair next to Mabel.  
  
"No, not at all. And yes, he's my twin brother." She allowed her head to turn back to Dipper, sighing with a deep sorrow.  
  
"Why are you here all alone?" The nurse asked.  
  
        Mabel turned back to her, prepared to answer her, but something about her caught her attention and momentarily silenced her. The nurse was a young, Hispanic girl; her body shaped in a distinct hourglass figure with a bit of excess curve. Her lengthy, black hair narrowed to an uneven point at the small of her back, with shorter locks draped over her shoulders. "Sorry," Mabel shook her head, "My friend's waiting in the car, I've gotta go." Without a single subtle move, she practically jumped from her seat and left the room.  
  
        She didn't know what it was about that woman, but there was something familiar about her...and something...off. Mabel stole one last deplorable glance at her, catching something that sent shivers up her spine, although she convinced herself that she had only imagined it. When she had looked back, the woman had flashed her a smile, so simple and kind. Though...it must have been the lighting, but Mabel could have sworn she saw her eyes glow red when she blinked...vertically; leaving the smile with a malicious atmosphere.   
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        Dipper scoffed at the brazen response he had received from whoever it was that had invaded his mind. Despite his disbelief, the boy rose to his feet to satisfy his curiosity, creeping forward to find a door. Not attached to a wall, just a big, oak door in the middle of his mindscape that was cracked open just slightly. The boy grasped the knob gently and pulled it open just enough to stick his head through the opening. "Well, come in if you're going to spy!" The voice laughed at him.  
  
        Immediately feeling a sense of guilt wash over him as if he were a mere child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Dipper stepped through the door completely and knitted his fingers in between each other, holding them in front of him and hanging his head as if waiting for a scolding. "Chill kid, I ain't your mama." The voice laughed in a snarky way.  
  
        Dipper looked up to find some sort of demon that look as if it had been charred by the fire of hell itself. "So this is the famous  _Dipper_  that my distant cousin has been  _pining_  over." The creature began laughing as he finished his sentence, "Haha..ha, pining! Get it? 'Cause, you know, Dipper Pines? Pine Tree? Pining? Oh fine, don't laugh! I know it was funny!" The demon rambled, now disheartened.  
  
"Who are you?  _What_ are you?" Dipper asked, folding his arms over his chest.  
  
"Man, does no one do their reading? The name's Mort and I'm not explaining what I am because once is too much for today." Mort rolled his eyes with disappointment towards the lack of knowledge within this group.  
  
"Side note, how...exactly...did you get in here?" Dipper questioned.  
  
"Oh, I have my ways, kid. I have my ways..." Mort let out an ominous chuckle.  
  
"What're you staring at?" Dipper asked with even more confusion as after the demon chuckled, he slowly turned his head to stare off at nothing.  
  
"Okay, you and all of your buddies are killin' my buzz here! It's a lot more fun to pretend that you've got a reality TV show when you people  _don't question_ my pointless 'breaking the fourth wall' moments!"


	29. Just Say Yes

"What is it, exactly, that you want?" Bill asked his opposing demon through gritted teeth and a attitude that seemed could set any flammable substance on fire.  
  
"Oh, I want something so simple, it's almost laughable." Mort vaguely responded with a twirling hand gesture off to the side.  
  
"Yes, well I've made my fair share of deals, and I'm not quite ignorant enough to accept an offer with the title 'Something so simple' or 'laughable'." He scoffed, offended by what felt like blatant hostility, but in all reality was simply how Mort chose to express himself.  
  
"Fine, fine, I suppose you  _are_  entitled to some of the details." The other demon slouched over slightly, sighing with disinterest, "I simply need...a tad bit of control, that's all."  
  
        A sickening feeling boiled in Bill's throat as he began guessing at what this devious creature meant when he said "control". "Control of  _what_?" He barked out his question with a deep, commanding voice that sent shivers up the other demon's spine.  
  
"Ooh, down boy!" Mort playfully teased, wagging his shoulders and lifting his eyebrows while simultaneously narrowing his eyes, "Do you really  _need_  all of those itty bitty details?"  
  
        Bill shot him such an ice cold glare that Mort immediately groaned and snapped out of his playful and seductive character, huffing, "Alright, alright. I just need to -uh,  _maneuver,"_ He carefully sought out the correct term, "your lover's body for a little while."  
  
" _Absolutely not_!" Bill growled with a new found hatred for this pretentious, grandiose jackass, "I'd rather rot in a cell for a thousand lifetimes than let you take control of Dipper."  
  
"Alright then, I guess there's no point in trying to reason with you if you've already decided." Mort shrugged, turning around and beginning to walk off.  
  
        Bill's eyes widened, the sneer plastered on his face quickly vanishing, "Wait!" He called out, "What do you mean?" A much softer voice of his asked.  
  
"Now that's a more appealing tone!" Mort whipped around, skipping back over to Bill, "Well, since it seems as if you  _would_  like to have all of the details, I suppose I'd have to give 'em to you! To make a long story short, I'm the force that's keeping you trapped in this little universe between your boyfriend's mind and the real world. I want just a short period of time to trounce across this lovely green earth in a human body, similar to what you did to the boy just a few months back, right? Anyways, unlike you, I can only possess someone with  _consent_." Bill listened intently, disliking his options more and more as the creature went on, "Something  _you,_ apparently, didn't understand was that no means no..." Mort muttered under his breath.  
  
"Yes, it was a rather dick move on my part, but on with the terms and conditions, please?" Bill sliced through his comment with such sharp sass.  
  
"I mean, that pretty much summed it up. I need a body, you can say yes, if not, the both of you boys stay in this little hell I made for you until lover, over there, is about to rot at the end of his human years, and I allow you to watch it all without ever being able to do a thing." Mort ended with an innocent giggle, flicking a lock of Bill's blonde, human hair.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"You know kid, I'm really rooting for you two in the long run. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I actually ship you guys!" Mort chuckled as he continued to talk to Dipper, pulling up a shiny, stainless steel stool to sit on.  
  
"Ship...?" Dipper asked, slowly becoming more adjusted to the monster's bombastic character.  
  
"You know, relationship, hope two people get on with their  _obvious_  adoration for one another." Mort waved it off like it was nothing, "Aaaanyways, I've got a teensy question for ya. Do you think that you would trust you lover to make a few decisions for you?"  
  
        Dipper sat on the cold, hard ground, pulling his legs forward as they crossed over each other, "Well, what kind of decisions do you mean?"  
  
"Oh nothing specific, I just wanted to know if you'd give lil' ol' Bill the ability to make a couple choices for you, common knowledge." Mort danced ever so smoothly around the real question.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so. I trust him." Dipper answered with confidence, feeling much more comfortable and much less cautious than he should have felt around this ancient demon.  
  
"Great! Well, nice to meet you!" Mort flung himself from the stool, shot over to lean into Dipper's face, vigorously shook his hand as someone might at the end of a business meeting, and just like that, he was gone without a trace.  
  
        Dipper sat in confusion as the smoke began to clear from Mort's flamboyant escape. In addition to his own disappearance, it seemed as if the strange, new creature had taken the makeshift kitchen with him. With his brow furrowed and his brain in a flurry of questions, Dipper stood to his feet, dazed and curious as to what this new introduction could possibly have up his sleeves.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Yes. Just...give him back in one piece when you're done."  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Wendy, let's get outta here." Mabel groaned with a shiver as she flung open the heavy door of the truck that the teen drove.  
  
"Sure kid, is everything alright- I mean, aside from the obvious." Wendy quickly corrected herself with a sound of regret in her voice.  
  
        Mabel opened her mouth and planned to lie and tell her friend that everything had gone fine. That Dipper was improving, that the staff was unbelievably kind, that she was happy; but she didn't. "No."  
  
        Wendy leaned in the opposite direction of Mabel momentarily to unbuckle herself, took the key out of ignition, and sat with her legs crossed, facing Mabel. "We are not moving this vehicle until you tell me everything on your mind. You've been way to stressed with everything going on, Mabel, especially for you."  
  
        Mabel looked at Wendy hesitantly, but on the inside, she was so deeply grateful to have someone like her in her life too look out for her. With a sigh, Mabel explained her troubles with Stan, the stress of possibly losing her brother, and the interesting, yet terrifying encounter with the nurse.  
  
"That's...heavy." Was all that was uttered from Wendy's solemn mouth as she soaked in the last bit of information Mabel gave her.  
  
"Yeah. But at least that nurse probably isn't-" Mabel had looked out the window of the truck, looked at the window of the hospital room her brother resided in, and was truly terrified to her roots, "W-Wendy...!" She gaped, grabbing her friend's shoulder, " _Look_!"  
  
        In the window of Dipper's room stood the Hispanic nurse. She stood staring out of the window, glaring directly into the truck with that same smile as the one she wore when Mabel left the room, and her head slightly tilted to the right. When the both of them stared in disbelief at the sight in front of them, she waved at them, and this time, the way the light hit her face was no factor in what they saw. A red glare glassed over her eyes and they blinked shut, vertically, once again.


	30. Waking the Wicked

        Dipper stood glaring into the remains of the clearing smoke that had materialized when Mort had disappeared, confusion seeping from his mind. The boy shook it off as nothing, but made a mental note to go back over it later when he had found more details. Despite the confusing question of how this demon was able to control things in Dipper's mindscape, he did seem to have a nice touch in reference to creativity. The boy looked up and noticed that Mort had left his mindscape a lot more...peaceful than it had ever been; in fact, it almost felt like he was back at the Mystery Shack. Giant trees of various types swayed in a cool breeze, a light musk lingered about the surrounding, and the sky was as blue as it might be in a child's cartoon. Just as this new change of scenery had begun to clear Dipper's mind and sooth his nerves, his previous pang of despair struck him once again. " _Bill_..." Where could he be?  
  
        Just as the teen began to brainstorm various factors that might help him escape his personal hell, he felt an earthquake-like rumble shake his mind, as if some parasitic creature had sought out his little world, grabbed a hold of it with its claws locked on tight, and shook it around with all of its might. Dipper felt his legs begin to shake, his brain begin to slosh about in his head, and his hope shatter as he was thrown to the ground by the sheer ferocity of this new element. The boy sat there, dazed, as he tried to piece together a reasoning for this- no, just  _how_  it could happen.  
  
        And just as suddenly as it began, the shaking came to a rapid halt, leaving Dipper confused and disoriented. "What the-" Was all the boy was able to spew from his mouth before he ended his unfinished sentence with an intense intake of oxygen.  
  
        He stared up at the intensely blue sky in horror, watching what seemed to be something tearing apart at it from the other side, ripping the fabric of the atmosphere apart piece by piece. The sky looked like paper as each piece was rapidly torn from the scenery, opening to a vast, black nothingness. The trees around him began to lean, quickly flopping over to their sides and wilting, with all of the leaves they possessed suddenly turning a dark brown and falling to the forest floor beneath them.  
  
        Just as Dipper thought things couldn't get any weirder, a flashing red light came over the clearing accompanied by a blaring emergency horn, repeatedly releasing deafening calls. The boy looked around frantically in search of the source of all of this din, as well as an escape route. Dipper began to hyperventilate, starting to believe that this was really the end and he would never be able to find a way out of this hell. Then, a ray of hope tore through the darkness closing in; a door. Just off in the distance, yet another of the mysterious doors that lead to unexpected locations, just within a running distance.  
  
        Without any hesitation, the boy made a mad dash for the door. He had made it about halfway to his destination when his legs were abruptly overcome with a sensation that made them feel like limp noodles. With the loss of control over them, Dipper was thrown to the floor, skidding across the rough dirt shortly as he was greeted by an even more terrifying sight.  
  
        Just as he lay on his back, Dipper glanced up and saw a steel cage hurriedly hurtling down directly over where he had fallen. Fear struck him right in his heart, sending a shiver down his spine as the open iron bars fell toward his as if he were some character from a cartoon falling into some kind of booby trap. The cage fell to the ground with a dull slicing sound as the dull ends of the iron bars dug deep into the ground, entrapping the hopeless child.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        Back in the hospital room that Dipper's true form resided in, his body had began to seize. His arms were flung back and forth, his chest heaved  up and down in jerking motions, and his eyes flew from side to side, whipping around in his skull. The Hispanic nurse that had been tasked with caring for this hospitalized boy was rushing about the room, frantically gathering medical supplies. Momentarily, she stopped by the boy's bed, but only to take his wrists and lock them into the restraints that were built into the side of the hospital bed.  
  
"Finally..." The nurse repeatedly whispered as she resumed her gathering.  
  
        Then, all of Dipper's convulsions came to a sudden halt. The body lie there, motionless. The woman dropped what was in her hands and knelt at the bedside of the still body, staring deeply into the partially opened eyes of the body. "Master? Have you returned?" She almost giggled with her uncontrolled elation.  
  
        For what seemed like hours, but in reality were merely just minutes, the body lie motionless in front of the woman as she remained on her knees, in wait for what was to come. "Master?" She called out once more, the enthusiasm she possessed beginning to falter only slightly.  
  
        As if her asking a second time was a queue, the boy's eyes opened completely, flashing a variety of colors. Dipper's body seemed to have a new life to it, it seemed to have a new strength to it, and only moments from when it had awoken, a freak force of strength flooded the body and his arms flew into the air, easily breaking through the standardized hospital restraints. "Ah, much better." A slightly deeper voice seemed to echo from within the boy's mouth once the binding forces had been broken, allowing him to lower his arms to his side to help push his torso off of the bed.  
  
"My loyal pet..." The voice came again as the body turned its head to look at the nurse.  
  
"My master, I have missed you." She let out a gasp that sounded almost aroused at the sight of this new presence.  
  
        The flashing colors of the boy's right eye began to fade away, revealing the original eye format that had been used by its previous owner. But, the left eye continued to flash color, even faster now. "Geez, I think the darn thing is broken!" The voice came again, an arm reaching to his face, taking a few fingers and violently jabbing them around in different locations of the eye in a half-hearted attempt to fix the slight malfunction. "Drat." He sighed, pulling away his hand when no cure was found.  
  
"Your eye!" The nurse gasped.  
  
        The tampering with the fragile human body piece had cause the condition to worsen. The colors had conjoined and now caused the surface of the eye to look like an old, colored static screen on a television, and the violent nature of the examining had caused blood to ooze from the hole in the skull...black blood. "Worry not, Orthros, daddy will get this problem fixed in no time."  
  
"Yes, Mortem." The nurse took a bowing stance even farther to the ground.


	31. Heat of The Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit honey, you better be ready to get super hyped at the end if you've been rooting for lil' ol' Billdip!

        Mabel and Wendy were driving down a peaceful, forested back road; rays of sunlight falling through the color-changing leaves as autumn approached and dappling the hood of the teenager's truck in golden splotches of sun. Mabel sat in the passenger seat, her legs pulled up onto the seat and tucked tightly under her body. With a deep sigh, the girl leaned her elbow on the window beside her, raising her fist to support the weight of her head. "Come on, Mabel, chin up!" Wendy tried to comfort her friend, glancing over at her only momentarily, "And you should also put on your seat belt."  
  
"Wendy, I really think we should go back!" After a moment of silence, the girl suddenly burst out.  
  
"Mabel, I know you're really worried for Dipper, being in that coma and all, but the hospital does have a good staff."  
  
"Did you not  _see_  that nurse that had been in the room just today?!" She scoffed in disbelief.  
  
        A look of slight regret, confusion, and inner turmoil crossed Wendy's face. The teen knew for sure she had seen some weird things go down in their small town, but she wasn't fully ready to accept the supernatural in its entirety. "Look, I know she seemed a bit weird-"  
  
"A bit  _weird_? That nurse  _was not human_!" Mabel exclaimed, using her hands for great emphasis on her point.  
  
"Fine, if you want to go back, I guess we can." Wendy let out a sound of defeat, slowing down her truck and beginning to look for a decent spot in the road ahead to make a U-turn.  
  
        Mabel lowered her arms and draped them across each other in her lap, satisfied to be returning to her twin, yet also a bit on edge from yelling at her friend. " _I just hope he's okay..._ " She thought to herself, intertwining her fingers and rubbing her thumbs together as she watched nature fly by out the side window.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Now, time to figure out how one would move around, per say, in this kind of form." The being that had possessed Dipper's once lively body smirked.  
  
        The demon, Mortem, threw the standard hospital covers from his body and latched his fingers onto the pant leg to his left, pulling it with ease to the edge of the bed. Then, continued the same with the opposite, preparing to depart from the surface that this body had not left in over a month. With a deep breath, the demon launched the body from the bed, feet first, hoping to hit the ground running, but to his surprise the legs he had been provided with had grown accustomed to not being used and became completely useless, throwing him to the ground. "Whoopsie daisy!" Mortem called out perkily.  
  
"Mort, are you okay?!" The nurse called out, dashing to her master's side in order to aid him in whatever was needed.  
  
"Of course, of course I'm alright, pet. I'm much stronger than I was the last time, thank you very much." He scoffed at his accomplice, floundering around on the ground in a vain attempt to rise to his feet once again.  
  
"D-Do you need any help?" She remained at his side, contemplating jumping in to assist her master despite his prideful tendencies.  
  
"I said I was fine, Orthros!" He let out a sing-song voice that poorly masked his growing annoyance with the new world.  
  
        Not wishing to further her master's discomfort, Orthros rose to her feet and stepped back a few paces, giving Mortem enough space as not to feel smothered by her worry. It had been a long time since her master had been allowed to walk among the mortals; in fact, it had been centuries. The last time Mortem was seen casually walking about was when he was worshiped greatly along side all of the other demons, although then they had been considered gods. Ah yes, the golden ages of ancient Greece. Yes, Mortem was the one out of all of his immortal brothers and sisters that had been considered the weakest link. The runt of the litter. But with Orthros by his side, whether he wanted to admit it or not, she had helped him rise from the pits of hell while all of his siblings lie burning with feelings of remorse and dreams of vengeance, unable to return to the world as they had lived previously. It is ironic to think about it, really, the fact that all of these beings were so praised and looked up to, when in all reality they were simply demons capable of manipulating and twisting the minds of mere mortals.  
  
        Albeit, when she had helped him rise again to the world of them mortals, he had been sent away once again to the deep dark abyss of hell. They really couldn't have chosen a worse time to rise from the pits of hell to attempt to rule over the humans once more. Let's just say that the Salem witch hunts weren't exactly as welcoming as the malleable minds of the Greek. Mortem had originally meant to be sent to hell, but with his stubborn traits and his determination, he was able to strike up a deal with fate itself and landed somewhere in between worlds, wandering aimlessly as he observed people drifting into insanity, beings crossing over into the world of the dead, and those who wished to be of a higher stature melt away in the venomous surrounding nothingness he had been forced to live inside. He wished so desperately to find a way out of this modern hell, alas, he was not able to possess a body unless given full and complete consent by the owner and, let's face it, not many people want to be possessed by a manipulative, slimy demon. But finally, after many, many years lying in wait for the perfect soul, Mortem found this lovely little couple; starstruck lovers if you will. The sensitive, yet surprisingly well knowledged Dipper Pines, and his dastardly demon cohort, Bill Cipher had come to save little ol' Mort from "The Beyond", as he titled it. I know, original, right?  
  
        After about five minutes squirming about on the floor next to the hospital bed, Mortem finally rose to his feet, although it was with the great support of any and all furniture laying about in the room. "See, I said I could do it!" He exclaimed with pride oozing from his ego.  
  
"And I never doubted you, master."  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
" _Dipper_!" Bill called out, aimlessly floating about in this in between mindscape space.  
  
        Suddenly, there was a flash of bright, red, glaring lights that began to blind the demon, forcing him to shield his eyes as much as possible. Bill peeked out from behind his fingers to determine whether it would be safe for him to glance about without being utterly blinded. As he looked up, he noticed the red light still remained, but was much duller and allowed him to see beyond his own nose, but was also accompanied by a blaring siren. "Dipper!" He called out once again.  
  
"Bill?" A faint cry came from somewhere below him.  
  
        The demon looked down only to see a mass of forest, absorbing the floor beneath him. With a new sense of determination, the demon began to fall to the ground, listening intently for any further signs of the boy. Just before he impacted the ground, he came to a hovering halt, gathering his new surroundings. "Dipper, where are you!"  
  
"Bill! I'm over here!" The voice had become much stronger now, calling out to Bill like a sweet song.  
  
        Ceasing to use any flying abilities, Bill propelled himself forward one last time and hit the forest floor running, certain he would find his Pine Tree at last. Though the branches and thorns of neighboring trees and bushes scraped across his barren skin, Bill barreled through them, wanting nothing more than to see the face of the one he loved.  
  
        At last, he saw a clearing in the trees. Bill bounded from the foliage, briefly losing his footing as he cleared the edge of the forest. "Bill..." Came a sigh of relief as he looked up, finding his Dipper all alone, trapped in a steel cage, clinging to the bars as he stared deeply into the demon's eyes.  
  
        With absolutely no thought put into anything anymore after all he had been through, Bill rushed at the cage, wrapping his hands over Dipper's and intertwining their fingers. "You know I'd never leave you." He panted, leaning forward and pressing his lips against Dipper's in a mad fit of passion.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        Dipper's eyes widened, surprised by the sudden action. At first, for only a fraction of a second, he was filled with surprise and confusion, then his heart took control over his being. The warmth of his mouth sent a wave of shivers down Dipper's spine, lifting his heart so greatly it felt as if he were floating. He felt Bill's hand leave his, only to meet the side of his face, pulling him in even further, losing each other in their deep, passionate love. And though it felt like an eternity within itself, the kiss was doomed to end from the beginning.  
  
        Dipper's mind caught up to his actions and immediately told him to pull away. Just as he prepared to jerk backwards, it was almost as if Bill had sensed his inhibitions and began to let up, only to briefly, gently tug on Dipper's bottom lip with his teeth. Dipper let out a puff of hot air, pulling back only a few inches. "H-Hi!" He exclaimed, rubbing a hand against his flustered face.


	32. I'm on My Way

        For a few moments, Bill and Dipper simply stood, staring at each other and breathing deeply with the relief of knowing each other were safe and sound. "Bill," Dipper was the one to first break the silence, "what's going on?" He asked, running a hand down the iron bar of his cage to once again meet Bill's.  
  
        The demon's nose scrunched up in a look of resentment and denial, snuffing as he turned his head to the side, seeming to filter his surroundings. Eventually, Bill looked back at him, his gaze hardened and serious, unlike any kind of look Dipper had ever imagined Bill was capable of possessing, "I don't know if you've met him yet- I'm going to take a wild guess and say you have. It's Mort." He almost growled with a low voice from deep within his throat.  
  
"We've met..." Dipper responded, trying to comprehend what that demon might've had to do with their current situation.  
  
"Well, he isn't exactly the cheery, sarcastic kind of guy he made himself out to be." Bill rolled his eyes at the thought, taking in a deep breath as he explained, "It seems as if he's got some kind of agenda to wreak havoc for some reason unbeknownst to me."  
  
        Dipper stood there, seemingly disinterested or at the very least distracted from what he was being told, "Well is that really such an imminent threat at the moment? Isn't he the kind of demon that's stuck in...wherever it is we are?" The boy glanced down at their hands, one on top of the other.  
  
        Bill stiffened as he was reminded of the decision he had made just earlier. "Not- Not at the moment, no. It seems that at the moment he's actually...well he's possessing your physical form." He dragged the last part from his mouth.  
  
"What do you mean?" Dipper asked, wide eyed, as he dropped his hands from the bars where they had lied against Bill's, "He's using  _my body_  for this chaotic agenda you've said he has? How did he get it?!" His voice gradually began to get higher with fear and frustration.  
  
        Bill stepped back from the bars for just a moment, removing his gaze from Dipper and sizing up the cage, "We should really work on getting you out of this thing. Where did it even come from?"  
  
" _Bill!_ " Dipper tried to sound stern as he shouted, but inside he cursed himself as his voice cracked once he had uttered the name, "What did you do?" He asked in a much calmer and more solemn tone, dread rising from the pit of his stomach for the response.  
  
        The demon's head fell, hanging as Bill sighed. He then straightened himself out and opened his mouth, "I...I had to Dipper," Came out, almost inaudibly.  
  
"Had to do  _what_!" Dipper ripped through his response, unable to take how Bill was dragging this on.  
  
"He would've killed you if I hadn't let him have your body." Bill choked on his own words.  
  
        Dipper let the words run through his mind, sink into his chest, and nail his feet to the ground. He could feel his throat closing up and his teeth grabbing at the insides of his lips, "Just get me out of this cage." He almost gagged as he forced the words from his mouth, feeling the burning sensation of tears increasing at the back of his eyes.  
  
. . . . . . . . . . .  
  
"Alright Orthros, let's get to it!" Mortem stated with far too much of a cheery tone.  
  
        The woman nodded and smiled, stepping to the side as her master passed by her with a confident stride in his new body. The two of them stepped out into the hall, stopping momentarily as Mortem closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, taking in his surroundings and memorizing the scent of where he had first been reborn into the world. His eyes opened to see a tall man with a lanky stature in a long, white coat approaching the two of them. "You're awake!" He called out with a smile, clearly speaking to the other inhabitant of this body.  
  
"Why yes, I am awake!" Mortem grinned, stepping forward to greet the man, "And I just wanted you to know-" He made a swift dart forward and grabbed the man's neck, taking it between his arms, "The first one is always the most memorable!" And with an abrupt angling of what he held, he had snapped the man's neck like a toothpick, immediately silencing his brief cries.  
  
"Whoo! What a rush!" He turned back to his partner in crime, pumping his fist into the air like a giddy child, "Now, why don't we clean out our path?" He almost giggled.  
  
        Orthros nodded and they both walked side by side, taking anyone's life into their hands as they passed by them, and squishing them like bugs. "Let's get rid of the infestation, one body at a time. It makes it more fun, doesn't it?" Orthros turned to the shorter body next to her, beaming with excitement.  
  
"Of course, and doesn't it feel so much better that you've waited while I was dormant?"  
  
"Without a doubt."  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
        Mabel and Wendy had just reached the entrance to the parking lot of the hospital, slowing down to creep forward as they examined something that brought a panic to both of them. There were people trickling out of the hospital doors, screaming as if the human embodiment of evil were following them just on their tails and the bright colors of flame flickered at a number of hospital room windows. "What the hell?" Escaped Wendy's mouth in a breath; she stopped the car, leaping from her seat and out into the panic almost in the same moment she put the stick shift into park.  
  
"Wendy wait! What if-" She silenced herself as she looked forward and saw her beloved brother straggling out of the doors as other pushed and shoved by him. " _Dipper_?!" She cried out, flinging herself from the vehicle and dashing towards him.  
  
        The moment she met with him, Mabel threw her arms around her twin partially in a hug, but within only seconds she became a human shield and was aiding him back towards the truck as quickly as she could take him. "What happened in there?!" Wendy shouted as they neared the door.  
  
"I don't-" Dipper paused as a cough racked his body and left him unable to speak for a moment, "I couldn't really see, but I woke up and saw this nurse...I think she was killing people!" The boy seemed shocked, realizing what he had seen.  
  
        As Dipper was in the middle of his explanation, there was a deep thumping noise followed by a relatively small explosion, blowing out a few of the hospital's windows on the second floor. "Explain the rest as we drive, kid, get it." Wendy commanded, opening the door for him and his sibling.  
  
. . . . . . . . . .  
  
It worked, I'm coming. You had better watch your back, because I'm on my way Stan.


	33. Dimensions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking 72 years to actually add another chapter to this. Please forgive me.

Rain pitter-pattered gently against the windows, the wind outside howled and screamed as it pressed against the house, and tree branches made awful scraping noises as they clawed at the window. Stan Pines ignored it all, still deep within his slumber, laying halfway on the yellow couch in his living room with an arm draped over the arm rest. After a lot of time alone and some occasional soul-searching, he had decided that he wanted to try and get out of his drunken state, at least for a good while, and the only surefire way that seemed to keep him out of his liquor cabinet was copious amounts of sleep.

Stanley had quickly tired of anything and everything that had flashed across the television screen now that he was slowly dragging himself back to sobriety, finding things were much funnier and more pleasant with the aid of alcohol. Tilting his head up towards the ceiling, he blinked back a few tears with disgust as he began to recall how he'd acted since Dipper was put into the hospital. "Why am I always such an asshole?" He thought aloud, bringing his hands up to his face and trying to rub the emotions out.

With this, Stan pushed himself off of the couch and stood, not sure what he was aiming towards doing, but hoping that he might be able to figure something out that would keep him from delving into his emotions or submitting to his booze cruise again. Looking around, a sinking feeling began to grow in the pit of his stomach: his life was empty. Dipper was gone, maybe for good, and since that exact moment, Stan had allowed his life to be flushed down the metaphorical toilet. He had been too preoccupied blaming himself to even open up the Mystery Shack, bills were beginning to pile up, Soos never came by anymore out of fear of being yelled at, not even television could satisfy him anymore, and Mable- Well, things with Mabel might have been the worst of all. It's always so easy to commit tax fraud, start up a new business in this town, or even find new workers, but Mabel...Stan had really hurt her. He had continuously pushed her away and told her that her brother was as good as dead. That was on him.

"Dammit, you idiot!" Just thinking about his great niece had brought on a flood of emotions, overwhelming his barely functioning consciousness.

Stan brought his hands to his face once more, wiping tears away at a faster rate as he stomped off to the vending machine, hoping he might be able to find solace in his brother's old works. "I'm sorry Ford. I never meant to let this place-or even me-go to shit like this." He apologized, even while knowing he would probably never be able to find his brother again.  
The old man punched in the five digit code that unlocked a whole different story of secrets and lies, of which had been burned into his memory, reminding him every time of his mistakes and all of the bridges he had to burn to be able to keep up this charade. Walking down the creaky stairs, his mind began to wander to different experiences he had endured in this part of the house. He thought of his fights with his brother, he thought of the many years he had spent locked away down here, desperately trying to find a solution to his mistakes, and he also thought of his most recent mistake. It had all happened just before Mabel and Dipper had come to stay with him.

TWO YEARS AGO

Stan fumbled about the old desk in front of him, grasping hurriedly at pages and files of mystical reports. "Come on, come on....where did I put it?!" He yelled out in frustration.

Stan Pines had dedicated many years of his life trying to locate his long lost twin brother, and he was just now on the verge of a break through. He had been studying all of Ford's work, burning it into his brain, and teaching himself how to properly meddle with the portal machine that had taken his brother away from him. He had looked over all of Ford's previous studies, and even looked into these things himself, finding a solution that just might bring him back. A lot of the factors that went into how this portal machine worked was, surprisingly enough, a lot of astrological science, and moon cycles. There are certain days in the moon cycle that talked about the "stars being in alignment" whatever that meant. Stan still didn't completely understand it all, but he wasn't looking to question the science that was bound to help him find his answers. This was one of those few days. One of the only days a year where Stan could actually get this damned portal up and running, allowing him to search through all of the open dimensions for his twin. If only he could find that one sheet, the one in which Ford had figured it all out. The one that Stan needed to even get the portal open.

Behind him, the graying man could hear the sounds of machinery whirring and clicking as the time grew closer, and he grew more frantic. "Just....where?!" He called out one last time, taking both arms and shoving everything off of the desk in a fit of rage.

Just as he thought he would miss his window and have to wait another few months to try again, he caught sight of the page in the corner of his eye. "There you are!" He whispered, clutching the page and holding it close to his chest as he scrambled forward towards the machine.

Stan threw on a pair of gloves, some protective goggles, and threw a lever to his left, a loud click following. Before him, he witnessed the portal shoot out sparks and begin to emit a familiar, yet eerie, blue glow. A gust of wind quickly slammed Stan in the side, pushing him back a few feet and with that, the portal begin to flicker, allowing him a glance into the dimension available during this stage of the moon cycle. He let out a slight gasp, taken aback at what he saw. This was a dimension he had never heard of, let alone seen before. Before him lied a gaping hole of darkness, one that gave him such an intense feeling of loneliness, emptiness, and self-loathing if he even glanced into it. Hesitantly, Stan crept forward, pushing as hard as he could against the gust. Despite the quickly growing sense of fear he received from this dimension, Stan could never leave any realm unchecked, just in case his brother had been inside of this hellscape.

He approached the portal, sticking his head slightly inside, and with a fear-coated voice, he called out "Ford! Ford, a-are you there?! It's me, Stanley!" But what he received in return was anything but brotherly.

"Freedom...?" A heavily distorted voice crooned, sending shivers down the man's spine.

"God...no..." Stan's voice quivered as he saw a pair of blood red eyes staring back at him through the abyss, "That's...that's not my brother."

"You're damn right I'm not your brother, mortal," The voice began to grow in strength and power, "But, I can offer you so much more than any brother of yours could. You have given me freedom, and that is something that I do not take lightly."

"No no no no!" Stan began to yell at himself as he quickly shoved himself away from the portal, hitting the ground hard.

He scrambled back, trying to stand, but in the current situation, his legs had pretty much turned into jelly. Almost instantly accepting that fact instead of trying to fight it, Stan used his arms to crawl along the floor, and once he had reached the lever that controlled the portal, he reached up for it. "What.....what do you think you are doing?" The voice boomed behind him, "Do you realize who I am?! I am all that is unholy, and you think you can reserve the right to put me back into that hellhole?!" The creature had slowly begun to creep through, his black figure stark against the gray floors.

An arm reached out, the claws at the end clicking against the cold floor. Then out peeked the creature's head, which immediately gave Stan a new definition of unexplainable terror. "I am the truest evil in every sense, and you would do well to recall that. My name is Mortem! Do you understand what that means, you fool?! I've heard people call Latin a dead language- but I consider it my first. My name is Death."

Every part of Stan's body trembled in utter terror, his eyes locked on the mesmerizing gaze of the beast in front of him. Though his eyes were hypnotized, it didn't stray him from his intentions as he fumbled behind him, feeling his way around for the lever. And just when he though he would die, he found it and yanked on it, the light slowly returning in an announcement that rang out loud and clear for this creature: Move.

Mortem was desperate and sick of being imprisoned, but he knew he'd never make it through in time. Quickly, and with every bone in his body screaming not to, he began to retract back into his prison, but not quickly enough. He was fast, but this dimension-hopping device was faster, effortlessly slicing of his arm that was left through on the other side of the portal, causing the demon to let out a shrill, ear-piercing howl of pain. And that was the last thing that Stan heard from that dimension.

With his ears still ringing, and his chest still heaving, Stan's eyes were trained on the pitch black limb that lay just across the room. He slowly began to rise to his feet, craning his neck and trying to get a better view of the arm. The man crept forward, reaching out his gloves to grab it, but to no avail, he was unable to. The minute his gloves breached the surface, the limb dissipated, turning gooey and slimy, then into a black liquid that resembled the consistency of water, and finally, it completely evaporated. Stan was shivering, horrified at what had just occurred in front of him, and at that, he bolted out of the room, closing and locking all doors behind him, and fled the scene in a desperate need to get away from all of this.

But back in the dimension the demon Mortem had been stored in, things were happening a lot differently. He was boiling over in rage and malice, screaming for his lost limb and chance at freedom. "I have been here for centuries! I have spent enough time in here, and it's time I've left. That damned fool, that damned fool!!!" He screeched with all of the capacity in his lungs, "He doesn't know what he's done, he doesn't know who he has declared a mortal enemy! It will take time...and it won't be easy...but I will escape, and when I do, this "Stanley Pines" will regret ever being born."


End file.
